He’s jailed for 10 years now but how did a British conman sell bogus bomb detectors to Iraq for $85 million? A lack of skepticism cost the lives of an estimated 2,000 people in Baghdad. Meirion Jones tells, with the help of video clips and secret recordings, how Jim McCormick and his chums worked the scam around the world and how whistleblowers and a Newsnight team exposed the scandal. This is about multi-million-dollar bribes in Baghdad, and UK PLC turning a blind eye to boost exports, but this is also about the lethal consequences of not basing policy on evidence. Meirion will demonstrate two real bogus bomb detectors as sold by the hoaxers for up to $40,000 each and show you how to make one that works every bit as well for less than a pound.

Meirion Jones is a BBC producer who is in the unusual position of winning the 2013 Scoop of the Year award for a programme which was never broadcast - his exposure of Jimmy Savile as a paedophile. He also won the Daniel Pearl International Award for Investigative Journalism in 2010 for his reports on toxic waste dumping by Trafigura in Africa. He has exposed everything from the fixing of the 2000 US election, to how Britain helped Israel get the atom bomb, from corrupt politicians to the affair of Mark Stone and the undercover cops, as well as homeopaths and healers.

Magic as a performing art has been around for thousands of years. In this light hearted journey through the history of magic Mike will take us from 4000 BC to the present and along the way show some of the classic tricks that have been performed by magicians for centuries. On the way you will hear why The Magic Circle did not ask Houdini to speak or perform at their annual banquet, about a famous Chinese magician who was shot on stage, the first time a woman was cut in half by a magician and many other facts. In addition you will hear how magicians have always taken on board ideas from the gaming tables, fraudulent mediums, mathematicians and other sources if those ideas will help them to fool and entertain an audience.

Mike is member of The Magic Circle and worked as a professional magician for many years. He has been employed by many blue chip companies for their events as well as entertaining celebrities and members of the Royal Family. He has a number of TV appearances to his credit as well as working as magical advisor on other programmes including a documentary on creative accounting.