A husband and wife team are creating magic. Christen Pears meets them.

DAVID Diamond asks if he can borrow a silver coin. I rummage through my purse, hand one over and watch in amazement as he bites it in half. A flick of his fingers, and it's whole again. I'm impressed but it's a very simple trick for a man who can levitate his own wife.

David and Angelique Diamond have been entertaining audiences across the North-East for the last four years, specialising in corporate events and marketing through magic. They perform both close-up magic and large-scale illusions, although Angelique is taking a back seat at the moment.

"I'm five months pregnant so no levitation or anything like that," she laughs.

The couple met 14 years ago and spent most of their time travelling the world, working for all the major cruise lines. They came home to the North-East four years ago to start a family but Angelique suffered from health problems.

"I was even thinking about having a hysterectomy last year but then this happened," she says, patting her bump. "It's magic."

The son of a County Durham banker, David started doing magic as a child.

"I saw David Copperfield on the television and he was amazing," he says. "I honestly believed in magic at the time. One of my dad's friends was in the Northern Magic Circle and I joined the junior section. I got access to all the magic books and lectures. When I realised there was no such thing as magic, I was so disappointed."

David was a painfully shy child, not particularly good at his schoolwork or sports. Learning magic and being able to perform tricks boosted his confidence. "I suddenly started getting invitations to all these parties. Being able to do something other people couldn't was brilliant," he says.

Angelique got into magic almost by accident. After studying performing arts at college, she was working for Metro Radio when she was spotted by a magician and recruited as his assistant.

"It was very old-fashioned - girls with feathers and everything like that so when I heard about David, I was really keen to meet him," she says.

The couple were introduced by a mutual friend. At the time, David was working on cruise ships and was looking to move into bigger illusions.

He and Angelique hit it off at once and have been together ever since, first as partners and later as man and wife.

They loved their life at sea but, four years ago, decided the time was right to settle back on dry land. They decided to focus on the corporate sector, re-creating themselves as Corporate Illusion.

"With our experience in the American market and years of travelling, we were used to it. We had already been working with big companies when they chartered the ships and we adapted the magic to promote them and their products," explains Angelique.

But it wasn't easy establishing their business in the North-East. Their new work was very different from what they had been doing on the ships. They had to re-think and re-design their show and illusions. They spent £200,000 on equipment and now employ their own company of dancers.

While they had an extensive resume and had worked with clients such as Deutsche Bank and Coca Cola, local businesses weren't convinced. They couldn't understand why, if the couple were so successful, they wanted to work in the North-East.

"It has taken a while to establish local credibility but the corporate market and business sector in the North-East is booming.

"We have seen some great things over the last few years. It has been an absolute pleasure. We do a lot of work at Lumley Castle and the clients are coming there from all over the world. We've ended up working for some of our international clients in the North-East," says Angelique.

As well as working at big, corporate gatherings, David also does close-up magic at weddings and parties.

"It really brings people together and gives them something to talk about, especially if they don't know each other. I never thought I would end up doing weddings but I really enjoy doing close-up magic. I just love watching the expressions on people's faces," he says.

Magic has moved on since the days of Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee. It's gone from end-of-the-pier to high tech, and there's a whole new generation interested in it, inspired by high profile magicians like David Blaine.

The Diamonds are passionate about raising the profile of their craft. This year alone, they've worked with Richard Branson and met the Chinese Ambassador. David hit the headlines when he correctly predicted the order of contestants to leave the Big Brother House. "It's been an amazing year. We eat, sleep and breathe magic," says David.

Angelique adds: "I have been blown up, I've had third degree burns. Once I was doing a levitation during a transatlantic crossing and we were hit by a tidal wave. I fell 12 feet. Fortunately, I'm a trained dancer and I was able to relax my body, but some people have really injured themselves. It's different now I'm pregnant but normally I just don't think about it. It's what I do and I love it."