I remember things – Alumni Stories, Chris Rawlins
One our favourite things is hearing what our alumni have been up to since leaving York St John, so we were delighted when we recently had to the chance to catch up with 2012 English Literature Graduate Chris Rawlins, who definitely has one of the most unusual careers we’ve been told about, successfully working all over the world as a memory performer.
So what is a memory performer and how did Chris get started? ‘I’d been interested in magic from an early age, and used to learn magic tricks when I was young but it wasn’t until I came to university that I started to really get into it,’ Chris explains. ‘ I’d become more interested in memory performance, which as the name suggests focusses on demonstrating super-human memory in an entertaining live show, and decided I wanted to give it a real go, so in my first year at York St John I applied to the Proof of Concept fund. I had to pitch and as a result they awarded me £500 which
YSJ alumnus Chris Rawlins
made a real difference to me, giving me the resources I needed to conduct research, buy books, get business cards and a website, all of which really helped me get started. The independence of university also meant I was able to juggle university work with doing occasional gigs and performances which gave me some really valuable experience early on. By the time I was getting towards the end of my programme the passion for performing had really taken over, and although I’d really enjoyed my literature course I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue as a career’.
Once Chris left York St John he put all his effort into his performing career, and soon found his hard work paying off. ‘I took the plunge after University and put 100% of my focus into being a memory performer. The early days were incredible stressful and very hard work but I don’t regret it at all. I started working with and being mentored by a fellow performer called Luke Jermay who is a true master of the art – Luke’s worked with the likes of Derren Brown, David Blaine, and Dynamo, and alongside my own performances I began working alongside Luke to put on his shows. This lead to becoming a member of his touring team, where I open the show and help in other ways. It’s always really enjoyable and great fun.
So what does an average week look like for Chris? ‘A lot of my time is spent reading and planning shows and most weeks include at least one or two shows, there’s a lot of travelling involved. I occasionally tour, including across Europe and the USA, doing talks and shows.’
And what about the future? ‘ I do a lot less of the weddings and private parties now, instead I have been doing a lot more corporate events for large organisations, with a stronger focus on education where I fuse the entertainment of my shows with memory training for staff, which is something I’ve really enjoyed. Looking ahead I would love to have a touring version of my own show and perform at the Edinburgh Fringe, but in the short term I’m primarily focussed on growing my client base and 
continuing some of things I’ve been involved in so far.’
During his career so far Chris has received rave reviews from the many of the clients he has worked with including the British Library, BT and Sainsbury’s, as well as from renowned industry personalities such as Uri Geller who describes Chris as a ‘creative, original thinker and truly great performer’.
If you’d like to find out more about Chris and his career as a memory performer then please visit his website http://www.irememberthings.co.uk/
If you have a story or update to share like Chris, then we’d love to hear from you! Get in touch by e-mailing us at alumni@yorksj.ac.uk
