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Magician Dynamo (aka Steven Frayne) pulls a magic trick on a UC Berkeley student on campus yesterday. Photo: Ted Friedman

A BBC television crew were on the UC Berkeley campus yesterday shooting an episode of Dynamo: Magician Impossible starring magician Steven Frayne.

Contributing photographer Ted Friedman checked out the action and spoke with Frayne’s manager, Dan Albion.

Cal students were invited to participate in the show when Frayne, who goes by the name Dynamo, dazzled them with his magic powers. One student, for example, pictured above, was asked to select from her three textbooks. She picked a thick biology textbook. Frayne then had her select a random page and he quoted a line correctly from the book, according to Albion.

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Dynamo the magician, who is never far from a deck of cards, on the Cal campus on Thursday. Photo: Ted Friedman

On Wednesday, the TV crew were shooting in San Francisco’s Mission district. When they were in LA recently, Frayne reportedly walked “vertically” down the LA Times building, starting at the top, Albion said.

“I never know what he will come up with. Sometimes it’s creepy,” Albion told Friedman. “He’s second only to Penn and Teller on Twitter.” The 31-year old has nearly 2 million followers on Twitter.

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Dynamo: Magician Impossible producer Debbie Young, right, sits next to Dynamo on the Cal campus. Photo: Ted Friedman

Dynamo was so named at 16 when he performed at a Houdini memorial in New York, added Albion, who “discovered” him 11 years ago in a music club.

Producer Debbie Young, who was on scene sporting scarlet-colored hair, said the show screens in 183 countries. The episode shot at Cal will air on Sept. 12 according to Albion.

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Tracey Taylor is co-founder of Berkeleyside and co-founder and editorial director of Cityside, the nonprofit parent to Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside. Before launching Berkeleyside, Tracey wrote for...