Magic at War

By the time war was declared, Frederick Montague (1876-1966) was an experienced Member of Parliament. Prime Minister Winston Churchill appointed him as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, before moving him to the newly created Ministry of Aircraft Production in 1941. The Ministry of Aircraft Production was formed by Churchill in response to the need to produce large numbers of aircraft to fight the Battle of Britain. The first minister was Lord Beaverbrook and Montague was his de facto deputy.    Under their control, the Ministry presided over an enormous increase in British aircraft production. Once up and running, the British production rate was two and a half times Germany's fighter production. Combat aircraft like Spitfires and Hurricanes were churned out of factories at an incredible pace, along with other fighters, bombers, patrol aircraft and more. A colourised image of a WW2 aircraft factory in England (Source: Imperial War Museum) ...

Englishman Oswald Rae (1892-1967) made his first professional appearance as a magician in 1912. Three years later, d uring World War One, he joined the Royal Engineers. While on active service, Rae gave over 500 magic performances in France, boosting morale for thousands of worn-down troops. He was personally thanked and complimented by General Lord Plumer, commander of Britain’s Second Army on the Western Front. After the war, Rae served in Germany with the Army of Occupation until he was demobilised.    Oswald Rae (Source: Creative commons licence) On his return from Germany, Rae joined a concert party at Exmouth, England, and stayed with them until 1921 when he became manager of DeMond’s Concert Party Enterprises, Skegness. He continued with them in 1922, before going into variety theatre the next year. Often billed as  ‘ The Bewildering Humorist ’ his credits included performances before British and foreign royalty. Poster advertising Oswald  Rae (Source: Pu...