Magic at War

Jasper Maskelyne, famed early Twentieth Century magician and illusionist, is often referred to as the 'War Magician'.  This nickname originates, mostly, from David Fisher's 1983 book, aptly titled, The War Magician: The man who conjured victory in the desert . Fisher tells the story of Maskelyne's background as a stage magician and his exploits during World War Two, when he joined the British Army intent on using magic to defeat Hitler. Unfortunately, the book - while an interesting read - is highly fictionalised, despite the author's assertion that " everything Jasper Maskelyne is credited with doing he actually accomplished ".  Had he attempted a factual account of Maskelyne's contribution to the war effort, Fisher wouldn't have been helped by his source material.  Much of Fisher's story is based on Maskelyne's book Magic - Top Secret (1949) (ghost written by F. S. Stuart), which itself exaggerated the facts, claimed accomplishments whic...

Wars aren't cheap. Put aside the human sacrifice and the social, environmental and political upheaval, there's also the financial cost. For America - and for many other nations - World War Two was their costliest war. The total bill was almost US$5 trillion (adjusted for today's prices). And, given that the U.S. didn't join the war until December 1941, this money covered just the 3 years and 9 months of their involvement. Great Britain and other nations endured six years of war. While the government might wish to hire a load of magicians to make money appear, that wouldn't work in reality. But, many magicians were employed to make money during the war. Here's how... One way that modern governments finance war, is by putting additional money into circulation. In effect, printing money ('magic money'?). But, putting lots of money into an economy will drive up inflation. To compensate for this, governments sell debt securities, known as war bonds. The funct...