Magic at War

Sir Julien Cahn made a fortune from furniture, fielded one of the most successful private cricket teams of the inter-war years and gave generously to medicine, agriculture and public causes. He was also a serious amateur illusionist who built one of Britain’s finest private theatres. Then war transformed Stanford Hall: an Army unit moved onto the estate, wounded soldiers recuperated beside his stage and Cahn’s magic found a military audience. More than eighty years later, Stanford Hall is again devoted to the rehabilitation of servicemen and women. Sir Julien Cahn Bt. (1882-1944) (Source: Unidentified and AI enhanced) In December 1938, a newspaper described an extraordinary new addition to Sir Julien Cahn’s country estate at Stanford Hall, near Loughborough. The theatre seated hundreds and was equipped for cinema, elaborate lighting and the owner’s increasingly ambitious magical illusions. Then came a less theatrical detail. Beneath it was a “bomb-proof dug-out”. Nine months later Brit...

Robert Harbin was o ne of the most influential magicians of the Twentieth Century. Not only was he a superb performer, he was an inventive genius, and one of the most prodigious inventors of magical effects. During World War Two, he was tasked with bringing entertainment to thousands of war-weary troops in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. Robert Harbin - a master magician (Source: whirligig-tv.co.uk) The Boy Magician from Sunny South Africa   Robert Harbin (Edward ‘Ned’ Richard Charles Williams) was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in early 1909.     He first got interested in magic after an ex-serviceman appeared at his school with a magic show, which Harbin later described as   “rather poor.”  But, with his interest sparked, young Ned started learning magic. After watching British magician Clive Maskelyne perform in Durban,   he travelled to England in 1928 – aged 19 –   “to try his luck in the ‘old country’”.   ...