Born in Cheltenham in 1839, John Nevil Maskelyne was a magician, showman, author and inventor. Honoured to this day by the Magic Circle, who present an annual Maskelyne Award for services to British magic, ‘The Chief’ as he was known, still holds the record for the longest running continuous magic show in British history.
During his talk, Andy Meller will delve into the life of this fascinating man who rose to become one of this country’s most acclaimed and accomplished magicians – and who also found time to invent the penny lock for the toilet and in so doing, gave us the phrase, ‘going to spend a penny’!
The talk is illustrated with powerpoint and includes one or two magic tricks along the way.
Andy’s interest in magic began when he was a child and received a magic set for Christmas. Many magic performances to his long suffering family ensued! It was whilst attending a magic convention in London some years ago though that he first came across the name John Nevil Maskelyne and was amazed to discover he came from Cheltenham close to where he lived.
Andy has worked as a headteacher, actor and storyteller and when not researching the past and honing his (very limited) magical skills can be found 3 days a week at Waterstones bookshop in Gloucester.