Some Interesting Magic Circle Members
Some Past, Some Present.
Some Well Known, Others Not.
Page One
Mr. Ken Dodd MMC
Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE (born November 8, 1927) is a veteran English comedian and singer songwriter, famous for selling over 100 million records, his buck teeth, frizzy hair, feather duster (or “tickling stick”), and his catchphrases, often playing on the ‘tickled’ motif, ex: “How tickled I am!”.
Edward Hilsum M.I.M.C.
Edward Hilsum is acknowledged by his peers as one of the brightest of the current crop of emerging magic entertainers, praised by the likes of Derren Brown, Dynamo and Troy for his charismatic dexterity and engaging persona.
Obsessed with puzzles and making things from a very early age, Edward’s natural desire to discover how things work led him to magic – which he admits helped him to conquer his severe shyness. That child-like curiosity still shines brightly and children in particular warm immediately to his infectious passion.
A first-class graduate in Psychology, Edward was only eighteen when invited to join The Magic Circle, who sponsored him to develop a successful one-man show in Las Vegas. Within three years, his unique talents had taken him around Europe and across America, and he was invited to create and perform magic during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
He is currently touring the UK as a featured performer in the highly popular ‘Champions of Magic’, and will be taking his new one-man show ‘Edward Hilsum: Genie’ to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015. This intimate show features magic in its purest form. Exploring the themes of happiness and fulfilment by granting three wishes, this is a family show that you don’t just watch; everyone becomes part of the experience… so be careful what you wish for!
Lord John MacGregor of Pulham Market, MIMC
Lord John MacGregor OBE PC FKC (born February 14, 1937), is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School, then at the University of St Andrews and at King’s College London. He was Conservative MP for Norfolk South, but stepped down in the 2001 election.
Evelyn Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset
DSO OBE JP DL MIMC
Evelyn Francis Edward Seymour, (May 1, 1882–April 26, 1954) was the son of Edward Seymour, 16th Duke of Somerset and Rowena Wall. On January 3, 1906, he married Edith Mary Parker (d. 19 April 1962) and had four children:
Joseph Rudyard Kipling
(30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)
Rudyard Kipling was an English author and poet. Born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai), he is best known for his works The Jungle Book (1894) and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1902), his novel, Kim (1901); his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), If— (1910); and his many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). He is regarded as a major “innovator in the art of the short story” his children’s books are enduring classics of children’s literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries The author Henry James said of him: “Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known.” In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. Among other honors, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.
Mr. Larry Barnes MIMC
The Viceroy of Versatility
Larry Barnes served in the Royal Artillery before embarking on his career as a man of many parts – from straight actor (Edmund in King Lear) to stunt man – he is a horseman, archer, swordsman and escapologist. A member of the inner Magic Circle, he is also a lightning cartoonist, balloon sculptor and paper-tearer. Larry is the Pearly King of Thornton Heath and often illuminating his act by appearing in his uniform.
Above, Mr. Larry Barnes
Photo: Authors Collection
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was the last Viceroy of the British Indian Empire (1947) and the first Governor-General of independent India (1947–1948). From 1954 until 1959 he was the First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. Mountbatten was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who planted a bomb in his boat at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland.
Earl Mountbatten was a member of the Magic Circle and introduced H.R.H. Charles Prince of Wales.
Fergus Anckorn MIMC
Magic Circle of Life
Meet Fergus Anckorn who at 95 is the longest serving member of the Magic Circle. Magic is not only central to his life, Having performed magic tricks since he was a small boy, Fergus joined the Magic Circle at 18. Little did he know at the time his performing skills would save his life on many occasions
Held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese for over three years, Fergus sometimes did magic tricks for the guards. He soon found that if he used their food as part of the trick, they let him eat it afterwards. The food he earned from his magic proved to be essential to his survival.
In his own words about life as a Japanese P.O.W.
Fergus Anckorn, now aged 95, joined the army at the beginning of the war and returned home seven years and three days later. He was held captive in Singapore where he was taken, along with 10,000 other soldiers from his division (118th field regiment royal artillery), seven days before the city fell. In total about 150,000 soldiers held as prisoners in Singapore of which two third died there.
“My regiment was 980 when we were taken prisoner and 250 when it finished. We didn’t even get a chance to take our guns off the boats and so we were lambs to the slaughter,” said Fergus. “I was blown up, I was shot, I survived the massacre, I was buried alive twice and I was up in front of the firing squad twice. Apart from that it was all right!
“For the first six weeks we had no food. We ate anything that moved – snails, slugs, crickets, snakes, cats, mice, dogs, grass, leaves – anything at all and that’s how we kept going.
“Their captors, the Japanese, were complicit in the prisoners’ torture, as Fergus recalls.” One day the Japanese decided to shoot five of us. Just for fun; there was no real reason for it. And they took five of us out and I was one of them and they took us into the jungle, stood us against some trees and got a machine gun out and put it on a tripod and aimed it at us.
“We didn’t have blindfolds or anything. And we waited for the bullets for ten minutes. You would’ve heard my knees knocking from here I tell you.” We were talking to each other; you know ‘why don’t they just get on with it, get it over with, when are the bullets coming’ and then they decided against it for some reason or the other, thought better of it. They put the gun away, they took us back to the camp and when we got there we found the war had been over for three days.
So now you know why I’m lucky.” Despite being away from home for years, Fergus was not allowed home for some three months as he “looked too horrible” and needed fattening up. After three months of eating, he was allowed home, although he still only weighed six stone. “We all came through it – it’s amazing what the human frame can put up with and get away with.”
Thomas Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE (August 18, 1920 – May 3, 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.
Described by Wisden as ‘arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen’, Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a further 1066 in first-class matches for Kent. En route he was the first wicket keeper to reach 200 Test dismissals and the first Englishman to reach both 1000 runs and 100 dismissals and 2000 runs and 200 dismissals in Test cricket. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1951.
Fay Presto MIMC Fay Presto is a British magician and a member of The Inner Magic Circle. In 2001, Fay Presto played herself in ITV’s Emmerdale. In 1998 she was voted ‘Party Entertainer of the Year’ by Tatler Magazine. Other television credits includes Heroes of Magic (Channel 4), Paul Daniel’s Secrets (BBC1), The Late Late Show for RTE, Dinner Dates (ITV), The Car’s the Star, Trick on 2 (BBC2) and Wogan (BBC1). Fay was also the sole subject of a BBC2 40 Minutes documentary, “Illusions of Grandeur”, about her life. Channel 4 voted her “Bottle Thru Table” trick the 37th Greatest Magic Trick of All Time.
H.R.H. The Prince of Wales MIMC
It is perhaps not generally known by the public that H.R.H. the Prince of Wales is a member of this famous magic club. Earl Mountbatten was a member of the Magic Circle and introduced H.R.H. Charles Prince of Wales on the evening of the 28th October 1975.
Alan Alan
Alan Alan (Alan Rabinowitz) is a retired British escapologist and magician He originated tricks that have subsequently become familiar features of the repertoire of other performers and he has been honored by the Magic Circle.
Alan achieved fame through a series of stunts staged for the media. He made headline news in 1949 when a “buried alive” stunt, performed for Pathe News, nearly went wrong. He is credited with devising the burning-rope straight-jacket escape, in which he is suspended upside-down from a crane with a length of thick rope dowsed with petrol, once ignited there is a short time to escape before the rope burns through.
He appeared in a number of television magic shows, including The Magic of David Copperfield. In more recent years he was seen on Simon Drake’s Secret Cabaret.
He was proprietor of Alan Alan’s Magic Spot, a magic shop based on Southampton Row, London until its lease expired in the mid 1990’s. Alan’s standing and influence in the world of magic was formally recognized in 2006 when the Magic Circle gave him the coveted Maskelyne award for services to British magic.
Oliver Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill
GCSI, GCIE, DL, JP, MIMC.
Arthur Oliver Villiers Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill, (19 February.1869 –7 July 1935). Oliver Russell, was born February 19th 1869 in Rome, the eldest son of the 1st Baron Ampthill and Lady Emily Theresa (née Villiers) – Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria and daughter of the 4th Earl of Clarendon.
He was educated at Eton and graduated from New College, Oxford in 1898 with a Bachelor of Arts. He succeeded to his father’s title of Baron Ampthill in 1884 aged 15 (and still at school)
On October 6, 1894, he married Lady Margaret Lygon, the daughter of the 6th Earl Beauchamp in Madresfield, Worcestershire and they had five children:
JACK DELVIN
JACK OF ALL TRICKS
JACK DELVIN has performed magic at the highest possible level for many years. He is one of the finest magical performers in the world. He has performed close-up and/or cabaret in virtually every top class hotel in London – Ritz, Dorchester, Hilton, Savoy, Grosvenor House, Park Lane, etc. He has worked for dozens of big name companies – BT, BBC, BA, Ford, DTI, BMW, etc. Perfect for banquets, product launches, press receptions, sales conferences, etc. Especially popular for adult birthday parties and anniversaries. The ideal magician for weddings – entertaining both children and adults.
JACK DELVIN is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star and the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He is also a Member of British Equity with public liability insurance. Jack was recently elected Vice President of The Magic Circle, and later President.
Jack Delvin was elected President
Of The Magic Circle at the A.G.M.
On Monday 17th September 2009
Congratulations Jack
Michael Vincent MIMC*
From being a small boy watching David Nixon on TV, to entertaining Hollywood stars at The Magic Castle in California, Michael Vincent has come a very long way. His dream was simple: to become the very best at his chosen craft, and bring world-class magic within the reach of everyone. Now the high standards that he set for himself, has audiences catching their breath. They see it, but they don’t believe it. Fasten your seat belts, and set your faces to stun, Michael Vincent has arrived.
Never ridiculing or humiliating, Michael treats his audience with the utmost courtesy and respect. Once using magic as a means to overcome his own shyness, Michael now utilises his art to assist others to overcome theirs, by drawing his audience into a world of wonder and enchantment.
His skills break the ice at functions, making people relax and interact – a good time is had by all.
Recognised for his performing excellence and relentless, painstaking, attention to detail, he is justifiably proud, and grateful, for the many honours that have been bestowed upon him by his peers.
The reward for the thousands of hours of practice and training which has brought Michael to his present level, is observing the thrill in peoples eyes, as he evokes the emotions of total astonishment. For when ‘the moment’ comes, we all forget our troubles and are transported back into our childhood, as a miracle unfolds right before our eyes.
“I’m lucky to have the greatest job in the world” says Michael. “In return for the warmth that people generate towards me, as I watch them bond with ‘the moment’ and each other, I get to give each and every one of them a happy memory to treasure for the rest of their lives. They ‘touch’ me with their applause, and I ‘touch’ them with my art”. His communication and diplomacy skills, forged through the experience gained in performing his craft, have made Michael Vincent a much requested after-dinner speaker, motivator and trainer.