Background

Maximilan Somerset was born in 1974 to the Contessa Pia Dei Tolomei and his father Ed Somerset who was a cousin of the Duke of Beaufort and a director of the Fired Earth tile company. Maximilian was brought up by a mixture of his Grandmother Molly Somerset (née Kennard and a 1st cousin to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

 the queen mother

Queen mother

Queen Mother is a title or position reserved for a widowed queen consort whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since at least 1577...

) Grandfather and two wonderful adopted parents Mervyn and Shirley Priddle, he rarely saw his blood father who was supported and tirelessly nursed by Diana his wife due to his lingering illness and final death in 1982 caused by a brain Tumour.
After his adopted parents died of Cancer in 1993 and 2000 respectively, he felt it appropriate to revert back to the birth name of Somerset.

Early life

Max became interested in sleight of hand from the age of 5 when he saw a TV magician push 4 coins through a table. He believes it was partly an important focus for him during the fractured childhood and partly a legitimate escape route. His adopted mother bought him a magic

Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...

 set and being slightly eccentric and a loner, would find it to be a very useful way to placate those who would have otherwise bullied him at school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

.
In his teenage years he set to turn negatives into positives. Studying the piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and Digital Orchestral multi-keyboard alongside a keen involvement in musical theatre he was offered a scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

 to study at Trinity College of Music in London where he undertook a Bachelors and Masters in Performance and related studies. Gaining a distinction in his performance he went on to explore theatrical and spatial aspects in Digital Music and wrote the Digital Keyboard

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

 internal and external syllabi occasionally giving lectures in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and in the Music Masters association.
Whilst at Trinity College he also wrote the syllabus for Digital Keyboard, grades 6-8. After leaving university Max embarked on a career teaching music whilst also pursuing his magical interests. He has performed twice at the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 with the Kensington Temple Gospel Choir on the Digital Orchestral Multi-Keyboard. He plays the Hammond Organ

Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

 and is Musical Director of the 500 member Emmanuel Baptist Fellowship in North London.

Career

His studies in aesthetics

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

 and musical theatre affected his relationship with sleight of hand

Sleight of hand

Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....

 and illusion

Illusion

An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....

 resulting in a unique quirky theatrical performance style. He believes that magic

Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...

 must have an internal logic that supersedes both magician and spectator. In 2003 his talents were spotted by a young producer named Ray Addison who produced a four part series starring Max titled Max Somerset which was broadcast on Game In TV

Game in TV

Game In TV was an interactive gaming and gambling channel, launched on Sky Digital channel 283. It broadcast 24 hours a day and included a schedule of youth-targeted programmes with competitions and games plus the chance to bet on Avago's bingo games, virtual horse races and virtual fruit...

. His unusual style of musical mind reading and shoe licking experiments featured in this first series gained him interest with Carlton

Carlton Television

Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...

 television who alongside Sky Television

Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)

Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...

 commissioned him a six-part prime time series for Sky One

Sky One

Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

 entitled Max Magic. This was an Alice in Wonderland style magic show where Max played various hidden camera comedy characters performing magic on unsuspecting members of the public.
The show soon became a hit and still repeats regularly today; it resulted in commissions from Objective Productions

Objective Productions

OBJECTIVE PRODUCTIONS is a UK-based television production company, based in London and Glasgow and was founded by Andrew O'Connor and Michael Vine in 1991...

 and most recently for Twenty Twenty television starring as the Sorcerer in his most recent BBC1 21-part series The Sorcerers Apprentice. The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (TV series)

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a children's television programme that aired on BBC One. It was hosted by Barney Harwood, and saw 14 lucky scholars picked from auditions taking place across the UK. The successful applicants were then taken to magic school, where they were given 18 days of training...

 (CBBC

CBBC

CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...

) The programme gave 14 children the chance to attend magic school and learn some of magic's finest secrets, performing competitively to win the prestigious title of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Three seasons have been filmed so far as of January 2010.

He appeared in the Darlington

Darlington

Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...

 pantomime Aladdin

Aladdin

Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....

in 2009–2010.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Episodes	Broadcaster
2003	Max Somerset	Presenter	4	Game In TV
2004	Max Magic	Presenter/Actor	6	Sky One
2005	Undercover Magic	Magician	8	Sky One
2006	Strangely Talented	Presenter	1 off special	Challenge TV
2007–2009	Sorcerer's Apprentice	Sorcerer	30	BBC1

External links

• Max Somerset's official website