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...

This final  blog  in the series (of four  blogs)  tells the incredible wartime experiences of Fergus Anckorn, an amateur magician who used magic to survive captivity and slavery as a POW in the Far East during World War Two. The Japanese Trick   A major concern of the POWs moved to the camps at Nong Pladuk was their proximity to an engineering complex and storage depot, known as Hashimoto’s, which was a potential target for Allied bombers. Fergus Anckorn ended up living perilously close to the complex.   “My hut and its air raid trench were about ten yards from the edge of Hashimoto’s yard and I felt sure I’d get killed by our own bombers.”   By comparison with other camps, the work was basic, but the conditions were horrible, and the guards were bullies.   Nong Pladuk POW Camp, Thailand (Source: IWM) To brighten things up in the camp the POWs started a concert party, called the Harboured Lights, which Anckorn joined.    In mid-February ...