Magic at War

During World War Two, Sydney Piddington was a prisoner-of-war (POW) in Singapore, where he developed a two-person telepathy act with fellow prisoner, Russell Braddon.   In the final part of this four-part article, we learn how the war ended for Piddington and how – along with his wife Lesley - he drew on his POW experiences to become one of the most famous mentalism acts of the Twentieth Century. End of the war In early 1945, Sydney Piddington and Russell Braddon’s telepathy demonstrations ended when Braddon – and most other prisoners in Changi – were sent out by the Japanese in groups of a hundred to various parts of Singapore to construct defences to defend the island from an Allied invasion. Piddington, doing invaluable service on Changi Jail’s secret radio was kept – under the pretext of illness and “completely unfit for all duties” – back in the camp.   On 6 August 1945, Piddington and his two colleagues operating the secret radio, learned of the atomic bo...

In wartime Britain, radio was the chief form of news and entertainment. The B.B.C. had launched a television service in 1936, but t ransmissions were halted throughout the war. Returning home after a hard day’s work, exhausted and often depressed about wartime events, the British population would turn to the radio for light relief and a sense of normality.  The wireless brought the news vividly to life for people far from the action, but it was also a source of comfort too. In their sitting rooms, couples swayed to dance music played live, families gathered to listen to radio comedy shows such as  It’s That Man Again , listen to singers like Vera Lynn, and occasionally to be mystified by magic – performed over the radio.  Home radio in World War Two (Source: Creative Commons Licence) A host of magicians achieved considerable success from their appearances on radio during World War Two, but not all actually performed any tricks. Here's a few of them: J. B. Priestley P...