Christopher Alfred Goode (born 22 April 1989), better known as Chris Cross, is an English magician, escapologist, and former contortionist. He has performed worldwide and appeared on British television.
Early years Cross was born in 1989 at Newcastle General Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. At the age of 10, he learned his first magic trick, a trick called The Coin Vanisher. By the time he reached 13, he had begun to perform semi-professionally in various bars, casinos, and nightclubs in the city centre of Newcastle, even receiving tips for his performances. He incorporated his natural abilities of dislocation and contortion into his stage act, which also featured comedy and magic. This act was presented as a street show and later as a cabaret at various holiday parks along the south coast of England. Upon reaching 16 years of age, he made the decision to leave school and pursue his career as a full-time entertainer.
Career Cross now performs close-up magic and cabaret acts of escapology, but he has retired as a contortionist due to arthritis in his shoulders as a result of performing his dislocation act for over 10 years. He won the UK Cabaret Championship 'Beat the Wand' Trophy at The Blackpool Magic Convention in the Blackpool Winter Gardens. Magic Convention Guide (28 March 2010). Retrieved 13 August 2012. at the 'Blackpool Magic Convention' in 2009. He was also nominated for Young Businessman and Entrepreneur of the Year by the Evening Chronicle newspaper. The majority of Cross's performances are now at festivals around the world, and private and corporate events in the UK. In 2014 and 2015, he won the title of Best North East Wedding Entertainer (Non-Musical) from the UK Wedding Industry Awards. He also won Best Wedding Fair Exhibitor as voted for by the public at the Stadium of Light in 2014 and at St. James' Park in 2016. Cross won the award for Outstanding Customer Service at the North of England Wedding Awards 2014, organised by The Wedding Guide, and again in 2016 winning the Judge's Choice award at York Racecourse. He was also nominated for The Journal's North East Culture Awards in 2016.
A regular on the independent festival scene, Cross has performed at numerous events across the country, including Glastonbury, Kendal Calling, T in the Park, Hard Rock Calling, The North East Chilli Festival and BOMFest,
Cross has performed his one-man stand-up comedy contortion and escapology show with the titles Chris Cross is Escaping from Reality, Loose Cannon and Cunning Stunts over 100 times between 2008 and 2016 at the Voodoo Rooms during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, gaining 4-star reviews from Broadway Baby and others.Chris Cross is Escaping from Reality – EdFringe Archive – Broadway Baby. Brighter Coverage. Broadwaybaby.com. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
In September 2010, Cross acted as the compere for the Liverpool Tattoo Convention to general praise, which resulted in Cross returning on four more occasions for the Convention.Liverpool Tattoo Convention (2010) – Convention. Big Tattoo Planet. Retrieved 13 August 2012. In the same year, Cross was booked to appear at The Bahrain International Circuit Formula One in Bahrain, The World Buskers Festival in Christchurch, New Zealand, The Slipper Room in New York City, as well as various cabaret clubs in Paris, London, and Los Angeles. Cross also appeared on Greek TV in May 2010, where he was a semi-finalist on Greece's Got Talent.
Cross has entertained numerous celebrities with his magic tricks and performances, including: Tulisa of N-Dubz at the launch of KAZAM mobile phones at The Raffles Club in Chelsea, DJ Yella of NWA backstage at a gig in Dublin, Miles Kane, lead singer in The Last Shadow Puppets with Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys, William Shatner, known as Captain James Kirk from the TV sci-fi show Star Trek at a sci-fi convention in Manchester, and The Prince of Wales. Cross is also endorsed by various Royal Warrant holders, including Thresher & Glenny Outfitters of London, Globetrotter Luggage, and other companies, such as Gaziano Girling of Savile Row, London. Cross challenged former two-time undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Mike Tyson, to a contest of strength. Tyson had 90 seconds to tie Cross up using all of his strength, and Cross had 90 seconds to use all of his strength to make the escape, which he succeeded at. After the Fun Challenge, Tyson appeared on ESPN's Sportsnation TV Show in America, where they played a clip of the stunt. Mike said He was one Crazy Dude, he had me feeling in danger of my life and stuff! This led to a string of other challenges, including proving he was faster than Sugar Ray Leonard, with Leonard saying, You're too fast for me, Chris! and challenging Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, to chain him up. Cross escaped, claiming I escaped from the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy! Cross then went on to challenge former Green Cross Code Man, David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy too, saying he wanted to prove the Force was stronger with him than Vader. He demonstrated some 'mind control'-appearing card tricks to Prowse, who said the force was with Chris – not me!
He also performed at the Jongleurs/Highlight comedy clubs with Bob Slayer's 'Rock & Roll Circus' in December 2010.Bob Slayer's Rock & Roll Circus – JASON ROUSE – Dec Tour. bobslayer.com (27 October 2010). Retrieved 13 August 2012.
Cross has notably performed upside-down straitjacket escape stunts both on TV and at events. He was tied in a straitjacket and suspended by his ankles, upside-down, from a crane over the Newport River in Wales at the Big Splash Festival, and the following year he performed another upside-down straitjacket escape off the bridge itself over the river.Weird, wild 'n wacky! (From South Wales Argus). Southwalesargus.co.uk (30 August 2010). Retrieved 13 August 2012. Cross also performed this stunt, hanging over 100 ft in the air from the top of the Newcastle Castle Keep, as a tribute to one of his heroes, Harry Houdini, which made the front page of The Journal Newspaper.
In 2013, Cross appeared on the Bafta Award-winning children's TV show, The Slammer, hosted by Ted Robbins, on CBBC with an escapology stunt he created himself, involving chains, padlocks, and a trapdoor on a platform that opened onto sharp spikes. It was originally performed on Greece's Got Talent TV Show in Greece, and Cross was asked to duplicate the stunt for the British TV show. In the same year, Cross was hired by BBC Worldwide as the magic and escapology consultant on The Hairy Bikers stage tour. He had to teach them some basic escapology for their live stage show, and Cross also supported Brit-Pop band, Simon & Oscar from Ocean Colour Scene at a gig in Newcastle.
In 2014, he appeared on BBC One on The One Show alongside Gyles Brandreth, where Cross performed an upside-down straitjacket escape and chatted about famous British escapologist, Allan Allan, who had just died. American illusionists Penn and Teller also appeared on the same show.
On 27 July 2014, Chris Cross was the last-ever act to perform at the original Spanish City Dome in Whitley Bay, before builders got underway with the re-developments. The Dome was a venue for many entertainers and bands over the last century, including The Animals. It was the inspiration for the Dire Straits song "Romeo and Juliet". Alan Clark (keyboardist) even sent a message to Cross to read out on the evening of the last show. One year later, in 2015, an inflatable dome venue was inflated next to the actual dome to stage The Under the Dome Festival, 2015 and Cross was the closing act here too.
In August 2015, Cross organised, and promoted, and co-starred in Geordie Legends: Them off The Viz! at The Tyne Theatre, celebrating 30 years of the iconic Geordie comic, VIZ, being in national distribution. Co-founders of the Comic, brothers, Chris Donald and Simon Donald both attended and took part in a Q&A's on stage with fans. The evening was sold out, so a second date was added, which sold out too. £1,525.00 was raised from the evenings and donated to local charity St. Oswalds Hospice. To commemorate the show, Chris Donald created a comic strip called Chris Cross – He's at a Loss (as to how to become a VIZ Comic Character!) which saw Chris Cross the magician meeting famous VIZ characters in each frame, such as The Fat Slags, Roger Mellie and Felix and his Amazing Underpants. 200 limited edition prints were printed and signed by both Cross and Donald and sold on the evening of the Shows. Simon Donald also had Cross appearing in a charity fundraiser for Dyslexia North East at a later date.
On 18 June 2015, Cross organised, promoted and co-starred in The Chris Cross & Paul Daniels Magic Show featuring The Lovely Debbie McGee! at his Quayside Cabaret Club in Newcastle. Paul Daniels was one of Cross's inspirations, and Paul gave him various advice and constructive criticism over the years. Following the sold-out show in 2015, Paul, Cross and Debbie McGee were scheduled to play a mini-tour of just a few dates mid-2016 in the North of England. Following Paul's death, Cross staged a tribute to Paul Daniels at his Quayside Cabaret Club in Newcastle Upon Tyne on 19 May. The event raised £1,235.00 for brain tumour research. Debbie McGee said she was Very moved and touched that Chris decided to put on a tribute to Paul and publicly thanked Cross on her radio show on BBC Radio Berkshire.Newcastle Evening Chronicle News – Chris Cross to Stage Charity Tribute to Paul Daniels Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Paul Daniels Tribute Show Article. Retrieved 25.05.16. The show was promoted on Good Morning Britain on ITV, BBC Radio Newcastle, Metro Radio and in The Newcastle Evening Chronicle newspaper. (Cross later purchased a lot of original props and illusions, belonging to Daniels, that were found in a farmers barn in Wales, as reported in Teesside Live) |url=https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/how-paul-daniels-famous-tv-15245745
In January 2016, Cross broke the fifth metacarpal on his right hand whilst rehearsing a new escapology stunt, which meant he had to learn lots of his tricks one handed to get him through gigs that were booked in whilst his right hand was recovering. He broke it by accidentally hitting it on a marble table in his living room whilst rehearsing a stunt for The Greatest Show on the Tyne.
In August 2016, Cross made Front Page News on the Journal Newspaper, as well as other regional press, when he performed an upside-down straitjacket escape, hanging over 100 ft in the air by his ankles above the roof of Newcastle's Castle Keep in a tribute stunt to Harry Houdini, who also visited the roof of the castle keep on his visit to the region in 1920. Geordie Actress Charlie Hardwick assisted Cross in the stunt too.
On 7 September 2016, Cross was hired to support Geordie Rockstar and lead singer of the British band The Animals, Eric Burdon at a gig which took place at Newcastle City Hall. During his warm-up act a drunken audience member tried to get on to the stage to start a fight with Chris. The intoxicated audience member was escorted off the premises by event security. The cause of the upset was a joke delivered by Cross about the audience member sitting in the cheap seats.
In February 2017, Cross organised Purely Belter - The 18th Birthday Party. Purely Belter is one of Cross's favourite films and he decided to host an 18th anniversary to celebrate the release of the Geordie cult movie. This saw a Q&A session and a re-union of the cast including actors: Tim Healy, Chris Beattie, Greg McLane, Val McLane (Sister of Jimmy Nail), Charlie Richmond, Charlie Hardwick & other cast members. The event raised £2,000 for local charities.