Magic at War

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...

A major base for the Royal Navy, Portsmouth was an obvious target for bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe. Between July 1940 and May 1944, the city endured 67 air raids. The raids killed 930 people, injuring many more. Over 6,500 houses were destroyed (nearly ten percent of the total) and a further 6,500 were severely damaged.  Bomb damage on Portsmouth Road in the Southsea area of Portsmouth (Source: Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery)  In one of the three major raids, on 10th March 1941, Ray Wickens was on duty with the city’s Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Casualty Service. Wickens was 32 years old and had served in the Casualty Service for one-and-a-half years. By day, he was an electrical salesman. By night, and at the weekends, he was normally a semi-professional magician. Wickens was a founding member of the Portsmouth & District Magic Circle, when it started in 1938.   Ray Wickens (Source: Portsmouth Evening News) On that night, German high-explosive and incendia...