He’s travelled on cruise ships working as a hypnotist, mind reader and game-show host.

He’s worked in pubs and clubs, had his own hypnotism show at Edinburgh Festival and was even booked once for a show in the Seychelles for a sheikh.

But now he’s changed jobs for what some might say is a far more important and exciting career: that of a primary school teacher.

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Ben Dali, 34, (pictured) is looking for a newly qualified teacher post this September after completing his training through the School Direct initial teacher training scheme. Over the past year, he has spent four days a week in the classroom and the other day at university.

Dali says his performance skills have already helped him.

‘I’d never use my mind-reading skills’

“Mind-reading is about interpreting and influencing, and while I’d never use my skills to influence children - which would be crossing a line - when it comes to interpreting, I have a good instinct for interpreting body language and I know when people are lying to me, and this is really useful for forming bonds with children,” he says.

Dali, from north London, worries parents might not take too kindly to a former hypnotist and mind reader teaching their children.

Prior to his training year, he worked as a teaching assistant for a year to get some experience in the classroom, when he says a mother complained about him teaching her child.

“Obviously I wouldn’t hypnotise children,” he says. However, he believes there are transferable skills; for example, in being able to constantly monitor the emotional state of a volunteer on stage, while keeping an eye on the wider audience as well.  

As for his experience as a game-show host, he says that also translates to the classroom. “There’s spontaneous humour, the interviewing techniques with contestants, and the pacing, and the levels of how much you talk compared to how much you let them talk.”

Dali, who is specialising in Year 6, has also worked as a magician and children’s birthday entertainer, and has appeared as a contestant on TV shows such as Countdown and The Chase, among others.

And while he is keen to make lessons fun and engaging, they won’t all be about entertainment.

He says: “I wanted to work with children and have a chance to influence other people and have an impact on their lives, other than just giving them an hour of happy memories.

“I’d gone as far as I was willing to with performing. I wanted a bit more stability in my life.”