Magic at War

I am delighted to announce that the 'Magic at War' blog is this year's winner of The Good Magic Awards, for our research and writing about how magicians helped fight World War Two. Read  The Good Thinking Society's press release here . The Good Magic Awards have been set up by psychologist and magician Professor Richard Wiseman in collaboration with The Good Thinking Society . Professor Richard Wiseman This year, the award was to provide funding to support a new and innovative project that promotes the art of magic.  The award was open to performers and other individuals who aim to promote the art of magic to fellow magicians and/or to the public. A judging panel selected the winner on the basis of potential impact, innovation, and ability to deliver the proposed activity.  I am thrilled to win this year's award and pass on my sincere to The Good Thinking Society for backing this project and for seeking to promote the art of magic. The Good Magic Award will allow m...

Part 3 of a three-part blog telling the compelling story of John Casson, magician, navy pilot, and Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war. His part in The Great Escape and how magic and performing helped him and others survive captivity. In this part, Casson's arrives at Stalag Luft III, where he becomes a leading producer of camp entertainment, continues sending coded messages to M.I.9 and supports The Great Escape. The Stalag Luft III commandant provides an additional introduction to this blog, with this quote: “The [POWs] were always pitting their brains against our camp systems, more or less on the lines of each man being an individual magician working out a trick to escape. This meant that in the camps we were faced with a lot of brainy young conjurors who had plenty of time in which to work out their various tricks against us…”  Showtime   In early April 1942, Lieutenant Commander John Casson was transferred to Stalag Luft III, a newly built  Luftwaffe -sponsore...

Part 2 of a three-part blog telling the compelling story of John Casson, magician, navy pilot, and Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war. His part in The Great Escape and how magic and performing helped him and others survive captivity. In this part, we look at Casson's capture and his time at Dulag Luft (Oberursel), where he  becomes  a coder and where the origins of  the Great Escape  were laid ... A failed attack and a downed aircraft On 14 June 1940, the British attacked the German warship   Scharnhorst  from the air . The attack failed. There were too few Skuas dive-bombers, with too little cover, facing too much opposition and with inadequate coordination.  The event came to be known as Black Thursday, one of the most disastrous days in the Fleet Air Arm's history. Only seven of fifteen aircraft made it back . The fate of the leading aircraft, flown by Lieutenant Commander John Casson, was in doubt. "When seven out of our aircraft had managed to g...