Magician to endure cheese stunt

A magician is to spend two days encased in a block of cheese in a parody of a stunt by illusionist David Blaine.
The American entertainer spent 62 hours entombed in ice in New York's Times Square.

But Noah Kelly plans to undertake his own endurance test by sealing himself into a giant cube of mature cheddar cheese for 48 hours.

Mr Kelly, of Weston-super-Mare, is now in training for the stunt, during which he will not eat or drink.

But the 32-year-old magician said he would not rule out nibbling on the 20-kilo cheese blocks from the inside if the hunger pangs got too much.

Mr Kelly says David Blaine's version of the stunt was too easy. He came up with his alternative in the bath.

He said: "I was thinking how cheesy what he did was and then from there I thought that I could do it surrounded by cheese.

"This is an endurance test and I hope to test my body - I'm not going to wimp out and use a mild cheese."

Mr Kelly, who once held the world record for building the highest card tower, said he was worried the stunt might put him off cheese for life.

He said: "I love cheese now, but I'm not quite sure what its going to be like afterwards.

'Nose peg'

"A nose peg may be an option, or air freshener - to acclimatise my body I've been hanging a piece of cheese under my nose for most of the day."

He hopes to slow his breathing by meditation techniques to help endure his confinement.

Fans will be able to communicate with him via the internet as he plans to take a laptop computer in with him.

Mr Kelly, who was thrown out of the International Brotherhood of Magicians for revealing how some tricks were done, will be encased in the cheese at the Sovereign Shopping Centre in Weston-super-Mare on 20 March.