If nothing else, he was really good at making things vanish.
It started when he was a kid. He would amaze his friends by making things disappear. It could be just about anything, really; a marble, a paperclip, a coin. Anything that would fit in his hand. As time went on this became mobile phones, spectacles, wallets, and eventually rabbits. It was around this point that he took to the stage. Just small time at first. Then came the big stuff. Venues with hundreds in the audience watching him make large items disappear, like motorbikes, cars, and occasionally, his female assistant. Then came the really big time. The day he made a complete aircraft vanish was the day that the publicity it created put him and his act firmly in the world spotlight. In short, he became a celebrity. The popularity of his shows had him doing world tours, going from country to country, entertaining huge audiences. His success and rise to fame was recognised internationally.
In truth however, in his private life things were very different. He was fond of drink, gambled a great deal and owed the tax office a lot of money. None of this was known and didn’t come to light until his last tour. It became apparent that he’d gone under the radar when he missed the next scheduled performance on his tour. The press went wild with headlines about the magician vanishing. Police and authorities in several countries searched for him during the months that followed. The world press kept running the story until it was decided that he just wasn’t going to be found.
Finally, they gave up.
They simply couldn’t find him.