[3] He originated tricks that have subsequently become familiar features of the repertoire of other performers and he was honoured by The Magic Circle.

[4] Alan achieved fame through a series of stunts staged for the media.

[4] He is credited with devising the burning-rope straitjacket escape,[5] in which he is suspended upside-down from a crane with a length of thick rope doused with petrol; once ignited there is a short time to escape before the rope burns through.

[6] He also "taught" the inmates of Wormwood Scrubs prison how to escape from handcuffs in his performance with a number of other magicians.

[7] In more recent years he was seen on the Channel 4 TV show The Secret Cabaret with Simon Drake.