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.

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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.”

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.

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