Technicians who sign up to plumbing courses will learn techniques that are almost magical in the eyes of filmmaker John Landis.

He told the Guardian that the lines between technology and magic have become blurred in recent times, with some devices seeming like science fiction to him.

Landis explained that he got this theory from Arthur C Clarke, who was conducting a lecture shortly after the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey and suggested that technology would gradually become indistinguishable from the fantastic.

In his opinion, some of the most impressive techniques in the world are in his own home, which may raise a smile among technicians on plumbing courses.

"Indoor plumbing - that is one of the great advances in civilisation and probably the thing I appreciate the most," Landis was quoted as saying.

The veteran director, who is perhaps most famous for his work on The Blues Brothers, Animal House and Trading Places, has a new film out called Burke and Hare starring Brit favourites Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis.

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