Sophie Lloyd
34 years after being expelled when he revealed to be a woman, Sophie Lloyd was now readmitted as a member of the British Magic Circle.
A woman who performed the feat of entering Magic Circle, the British magician society, is finally becoming a member-34 years after being expelled.
Sophie Lloyd says It disguised To deceive the examiner and to join the Elite society in 1991, at a time when women were not allowed to be members.
When Magic Circle announced that it would allow the adhesion of women at the end of that year, Lloyd revealed the disguise, leading society to expel it at the same meeting in which he admitted the first members of females.
After conducting a public search to find her, Magic Circle has now apologized to Lloyd-and handed her a member certificate on Thursday night.
“I’m very excited“Lloyd told BBC’s Radio Today, earlier that day.
In the late 1980s, Lloyd I studied in a mime school In London, where he was friends with magic Jenny Winstanley.
“Jenny was increasingly frustrated With the fact that women, including her, could not participate in Magic Circle, ”said Lloyd.“ So she had the idea of infiltrating society making me dress as a man. She couldn’t do this alone because it was very well known. ”
It was a colossal venture. Lloyd had worked as Winstanley’s assistant in shows, but had not done magic on his own, so he had to learn.
She invented a new identity – Raymond Lloyd – And spent about two years studying the character. He disguised himself wearing a wig, fact and making a “hoarse” voice. He also wore gloves to hide his female hands.
There was nothing she could do about her height – 1.57 m – so instead she conceived Raymond as an “18 -year -old, young -looking boy” with A little facial “pen”she told Canadian broadcaster CBC in 1991.
Lloyd told today that his character was “totally convincing” and said he had no problem using the fact, but the gloves made it “very difficult” to make illusion tricks.
In March 1991, Lloyd was ready to test his skills. Instead of being examined at Magic Circle’s headquarters – what Lloyd and Winstanley considered it very risky – she chose to invite the examiners of society to a Presentation of 20 minutes against 200 spectatorsin a club frequented by working class men. To disguise his voice, Lloyd said he had laryngitis. She even stayed to drink with one of the examiners after the show.
A week later, he received the news that he had been admitted as a member of Magic Circle.
For months, “Raymond Lloyd” made magic shows and even socialized with other members of Magic Circle.
Later, when Lloyd and Winstanley learned that society would begin to accept women as a member, they decided to confess what they had doneand Winstanley told the telephone society.
Mas o Magic Circle did not receive the news well. The duo received a letter to say that “Raymond” had been expelled and, in October 1991, at the first meeting for admission of women in society, Lloyd was expelled.
“We couldn’t understand what was happening,” Lloyd said.
She has spent about 10 years to present herself as magic across the country, including bullying shows, before moving to Spain, where she renovated early and got involved in the rescue of animals. Winstanley even managed a ceramic company in Norfolk, before dow em 2004.
Magic Circle started a search for Lloyd last year.
“I thought it was important for Magic Circle being able to recognize Sophie as A model for magic womenas well as show that we are now a completely open society, ”said Laura London, the first woman’s president of the Society Council.
Lloyd just learned about the search for her when her sister sent her a link to an interview. Initially reluctant to enter society due to the time she had spent, she finally decided to do this to honor Winstanley’s legacy.
Currently, Magic Circle is still strongly dominated by men. Society has about 1.7 thousand members, of which Only 5% are women.
Lloyd received his new member certificate on Thursday night during an event at Magic Circle headquarters in London. Winstanley was also honored at the time.
“This is for Jenny, actually“Lloyd said.” I think Jenny would have loved it. “
