Vindication at last for woman who posed as man to join British magicians’ club

1960s' hand of magician pulling white rabbit out of black top hat. (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images) (H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStoc)

LONDON - Thirty years after expelling Sophie Lloyd for masquerading as a man to join the then exclusively male Magic Circle, the London-based society for professional and amateur magicians has tracked her down to restore her membership.

The society, which has 1,700 members around the world, including King Charles, expelled Lloyd in 1991.

For months before, Lloyd, with the help of a friend, had pretended to be a man called Raymond who had a bad throat.

“We had a wig made, a bit like Hugh Grant’s hair,” Lloyd told reporters. “We had the brace made ... to get the stronger face and to get the jawline.”

The club was not pleased when Lloyd revealed her deception. It chose to expel her - despite at the same time opening membership to other women for the first time.

The club’s Latin motto translates as “Disinclined to disclose secrets,” and in 1910 it kicked out its first president for revealing the secrets behind magic tricks.

Until the 1990s, it justified its ban on women by saying that they could not be trusted to keep magic tricks secret.

The society now has its first female chair, Laura London, who wanted to contact Lloyd after hearing about her last year.

“I knew this was a story that needed to be told,” London said. “It’s not only captured the imagination of us magicians, it seems to have captured the imagination of everyone now.”

Having initially been hesitant to identify herself, Lloyd, now in her 60s and living in Spain, described her return as bittersweet because the friend who had helped her pull off her deception had since died.

“I thought ... Jenny would have loved this and I just got really emotional,” she said.

The Magic Circle’s membership had changed hugely, she added.

“That was 30 years ago, people are so different (now) ... They were all booted and suited in my day, and now - I was looking at them, and they had tattoos, hoodies, trainers, piercings.”

(Reporting by Muvija M. Editing by David Milliken and Mark Potter)