Magic at War

A German magician in a Welsh prisoner-of-war camp discovers how the brotherhood and art of magic can transcend war. Some of the magicians who served as sailors, soldiers and airmen in World War Two, inevitably became prisoners-of-war (POW). Those serving with the Allied Powers ended up in the hands of the Axis Powers led by Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan and Fascist Italy, or vice versa. The majority of POWs from the Axis Powers were captured by the Soviet Union, who held 3 million POWs in thousands of camps. Others were captured and held by the Western Allies and dispersed throughout the world. In Britain, at its peak, there  were 390 major POW camps  to house half a million POWs or surrendered enemy personnel (SEP).  Another 400,000 prisoners were sent to the U.S.A.  Countries in the British Empire, such as Australia, Canada and India, also took in POWs. On e Axis soldier to end up incarcerated in Britain, was a German magician called Ludwig Hanemann. Ludwig Fra...

William Eric Bowes (1908-1987), known as 'Bill' Bowes, was an English professional cricketer. He played for Yorkshire, Marylebone Cricket Club and represented England in test cricket 15 times.  Active between 1929 and 1946, Bowes' strength was as a right-arm fast-medium bowler. In first-class cricket he took  1,639  wickets at a cost of just 16.76, a highly commendable bowling average. At 6' 4", his bowling was a bit gangly and ponderous, but he delivered the goods. To those who knew him, Bowes was a  charming, intelligent and generous sportsman. W. E. (Bill) Bowes, cricketer (1932) (Source: Public domain) Off the cricket field, Bowes enjoyed a side-interest in magic. He wrote about his introduction to magic in his  autobiography, Express Deliveries (1950): “Sitting in the dressing-room at Lord’s one wet day when I was nineteen, I was fascinated by a display of conjuring given by Arthur Cuthbertson, a minor counties cricketer. The amateur conjuror is always ass...