Nearly a hundred years after his death, Harry Houdini is the still the face and the name of performance magic in the mind of the general public. That’s why you’ll see his name, and occasionally his likeness, plastered on any magic-adjacent business that can lay claim to some kind of connection to the iconic escapologist. 

Houdini’s Magic Bar is one such establishment. Partners, Sam Watson and Claudette Cairns, already have one bar under that name in Broadstairs, with another opening this weekend in the medieval town of Canterbury. To celebrate, resident magician, strongman and escapologist, Stuart Burrell, will be taking a shot at beating his own Guiness world record for escaping from a pair of double-locked regulation prisoner transport irons. Assuming the weather holds, as he’ll be performing outside of the cosy bar. 

Burrell’s current best time stands at 01:03.79, a record he set in July of 2015, shaving more than 30 seconds off his previous records. Escaping from manacles, however, isn’t straight forward.

“The rules are complex,” Burrell told the local press,“and, even if I follow them to the letter, I will still only have 63 seconds to get out.” 

His attempts are scheduled to run from 2pm to 4pm, Saturday, April 14th, and Sunday, April 15th. 

Everyone here at Genii Online wishes Burrell the best of luck in his attempts.