Magic at War

In Part Two of this blog about magician Danny Varney and the Hackney Empire, read about air-raids at the Empire and Varney’s encounters with Hitler’s V-weapons.  Danny Varney (Source: www.arthurlloyd.co.uk) Air-raids   Living in London, Danny Varney faced the dangers of German air-raids, even after the major period of bombings, known as the Blitz, ended. In 1943, he was watching a tightrope act on stage at the Hackney Empire. “The alert had sounded, but I didn't see anybody pay it any attention. Nobody left their seat. Ack Ack  [anti-aircraft]  guns were heard cracking away in the distance, but nobody bothered, we all took the chance somebody else would cop it. The performer was doing a difficult part of his routine and nearly fallen a couple of times - but always recovered - of course to build up tension. Then literally all hell broke loose! It seemed as if every gun in London had opened up on the Jerry  [German]  plane right overhead. It was a deafen...

In this two-part blog, we hear – in his own words – the wartime story of Danny Varney, an amateur magician and a regular audience member at the Hackney Empire, London.    Built in 1901, during the Second Boer War, the Hackney Empire was one of the top music halls of its day. Located in London Borough of Hackney, in northeast London, it provided the people of Hackney with their mass entertainment, taking them through two World Wars, poverty, economic depression and post-war hardships.    A grand venue the Empire has more recently been described by  The Guardian  newspaper, as  “the most beautiful theatre in London.”  For over a century, the Empire has seen variety, vaudeville, plays, musicals, films, political rallies, bingo, and more on its stage.    Hackney-resident Danny Varney was a regular audience member at the Empire over the years.   Born in the late 1910s, Varney first started visiting the Hackney Empire as a babe ...