The magician who secretly smashed the Magic Circle's glass ceiling

The Magic Circle is trying to track down its first female member, who duped her way into the all-male magicians' society by disguising herself as a teenage boy named Raymond.

Sophie Lloyd was expelled by the society in 1991 for "deliberate deception" after revealing her ruse. But with attitudes changing in the "old boys' club" of magic, the group now wants her back.

The 'greatest deception'

Back in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the world wide web "pinged into existence" and the Magic Circle "readied itself for the 21st century by finally admitting women into its ranks", said The Times. But immediately after voting to allow women to be members, the group expelled one who had lurked secretly in their midst for two years.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Lloyd was admitted to the society in 1989, posing as a bespectacled teenage boy called Raymond with "a particular knack for making a £5 note burst into flames and then reappear".

An actor by profession, Lloyd had been coached for the deception by a magician called Jenny Winstanley, who originally hoped to join the Magic Circle herself, but thought Lloyd would stand a better chance of making the trick work. Winstanley's hunch was correct: Lloyd not only hoodwinked the judging panel in her 20-minute entrance exam, she even went for a drink with the examiner without him noticing.

Following the council meeting that voted to allow women to join, Lloyd threw off her wig and glasses to reveal that she was in fact a 28-year-old woman called Sophie. When Lloyd revealed her true self, the council realised it had "been fooled by perhaps the greatest deception of all", and its response was "swift and severe", said The Times. Lloyd was expelled from the society and threatened with legal action. The group's honorary secretary, Christopher Pratt, didn't see the funny side of it at all, telling The Guardian at the time: "If you find this amusing, well, that's your prerogative."

For her part, Lloyd told the Canadian broadcaster CBC after her expulsion that she was tired of the world of magic, adding that the experience had "really put me off". She has since disappeared, but the society hopes to "welcome her back", said president Marvin Berglas. Laura London, the first female chair of the Magic Circle, said the group is "so desperate to right this wrong".

'Glamorous assistants'

Although "much has changed" since the 1990s, magic is "still a male-dominated sector", said The Guardian. Of the Magic Circle's 1,700 members, only 5% are women. In a hint of progress, the figure is higher in its Young Magician's Club for 10- to 18-year-olds. "The fact that it's changing now is great," said London, "but boy, it's taken a long time." In the US, 93% of the Academy of Magical Arts' magician-level members are male.

Magic has "long been the preserve of men", said the i news site. "For more than a century women have served as the glamorous assistants to male magicians." Clothes "played a role in this", it added: women magicians are "at a disadvantage", as more tight-fitting clothing "leaves nowhere to hide the all-important mechanics of tricks" compared to a traditional suit.

Katherine Rhodes, a skilled close-up magician, said that although women haven't "smashed the glass ceiling of magic yet", it "has a massive crack in it – maybe even a hole". Times are "changing but there are decades of 'boys only' views to undo".

The Magic Circle is hoping that by "extending an olive branch" to its first, unofficial female member, "others may soon follow", said The Times. Meanwhile, the Magic Circle hopes to make a movie of Lloyd's "extraordinary heist", said London.