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 Parts 1 and 2 of this article about Sydney and Lesley Piddington, one of the most famous mentalism acts of the Twentieth Century, we learned how Sydney’s early interest in magic was disrupted by World War Two. And how he ended up in the Australian army and became a prisoner-of-war (POW) in Changi, Singapore. Part 3 explores ho w Piddington developed a two-person telepathy act in Changi, which became the basis for The Piddingtons’ post-war radio broadcasts.   Thai-Burma Railway and the Changi Aerodrome At the end of 1942, Sydney Piddington was reunited with fellow Australian Russell Braddon, when the prisoners from Pudu Jail in Malaysia were moved to Changi in Singapore. By this time, with Changi massively overcrowded, the Japanese were moving POWs to ‘lavish new camps’ in Thailand where there was better food and living conditions. They wanted thousands of men to go there. Piddington and Braddon, fed up with life in Changi, put their names down for H Force, one of the lat...

In Part 1 of this article about Sydney and Lesley Piddington, one of the most famous mentalism acts of the Twentieth Century, we learned how Sydney’s early interest in magic was disrupted by World War Two. And how he ended up in the Australian army, fighting to defend Malaya and Singapore. In Part 2, we discover how Piddington rekindled his interest in magic as a prisoner-of-war (POW) and the role he played in operating a secret radio. Prisoner-of-war   After his capture, Sydney Piddington and the other captured Allied troops were force marched to Changi in the island ’s  east.  Changi was a collection of up to seven POW and internee camps, occupying an area of approximately 25 square kilometres. Its name came from the peninsula on which it stood. Prior to the war the Changi Peninsula had been the British Army’s principal base area in Singapore. As a result, the site boasted an extensive and well-constructed military infrastructure, including three major barracks – ...

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...