Some years ago, I decided to design my own minimalist variation of a book test, and I sat down and set myself some criteria with the idea of producing some sort of dictionary-style book test that doesn't actually use a dictionary or any other type of magic shop prop.

I wanted something customizable that I could use in cabaret but also for walkaround close-up gigs, so it had to take up minimal pocket space. The prop had to be innocuous and reasonably examinable so a spectator could handle it with minimal audience management, and I wanted the selection process to appear completely random. But most importantly, I wanted all the words in the book to be interesting or unusual.

I tried lots of ideas but eventually took my own adaptation of another brilliant routine and combined it with what is essentially a word test to create an idea I've called D.D.T. or the Dictionary Diary Test.

Hand a spectator a small pocket diary, ask them to merely think of a date in the year (you never know what it is) and silently read the strange and interesting word written by that date. You can now reveal what they are thinking.

A single ordinary pocket diary and hundreds of words.

But there's more because I've also included a variation that I call 'Remembering Pi' that focuses on numbers rather than words.

Welcome to D.D.T