Full video

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Harry Houdini pen andella David

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Copperfield what do all these people

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have in common you might not have

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thought about it but magicians all seem

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to be men and the numbers back it up

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only around 5% of magicians are women

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and it's even more pronounced among the

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industry's biggest names so where are

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all the female magicians we found one

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maybe she can tell us

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more people always ask asked me why

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aren't there more women in Magic well

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there's always been women in Magic

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always for over a hundred years women

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were topping the bills all over the

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country but much like many things of

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course women were written out of History

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which is why you might know who Houdini

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is but you perhaps don't know who Talmer

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is or Ionia or some of these really

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extraordinary women who were performing

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amazing amazing shows uh all those years

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ago Laura London is a world leading

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magician and slight of hand artist who's

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performed for the likes of King Charles

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and Darren Brown she was also the first

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female chair of the magic circle one of

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the oldest and most prestigious magic

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Societies in the world founded in 1905

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it was only in 1991 when the magic

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circle began accepting women though

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little did they know a female magician

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had already infiltrated their

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[Music]

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ranks Our Story begins with Sophie Lloyd

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an actress who in 1990 joined forces

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with a magician called Jenny win Stanley

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to embark on an elaborate mission to

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make an important point and they spent

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about 18 months or so coming up with

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this deception where during that time

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would not only learn a magic act but she

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would learn to look like a man act like

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a man with the sole intention to prove

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that women were just as good as the men

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with the disguise mastered Sophie became

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Raymond she now he was accepted to the

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magic circle proving good enough to join

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the secret society a year later in 1991

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the magic circle finally decided to

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start accepting female members

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emboldened by the progress Raymond

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revealed his true identity only to find

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that the traditional institution was not

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impressed and the magic circle expelled

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Sophie Lloyd and just like that she

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disappeared her story became the stuff

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of Legend and widespread media

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speculation the mystery remains unsolved

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though the magic circle are trying to

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track her down we all need to say thank

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you to This Woman This extraordinary

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woman for proving her point so

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incredibly well around the same time

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Laura was a little girl and she was

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struggling at

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school I was six I was diagnosed with

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ADHD my mom had no idea what to do with

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me you know I was sent to a special

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Clinic where the doctor told my mom

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you're never going to do well in school

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you're certainly not going to hold down

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a proper job and so they encouraged her

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to find something creative for me after

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seeing a magician at a birthday party at

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the age of six Laura found that creative

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release all of the kids were just having

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the best time ever and I thought what a

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wonderful thing to do you know to be

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able to put smiles and all these faces

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yeah that's that's that was me so when

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my mom picked me up I was like that's it

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that's what I have to do I have to do

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this women in Magic have historically

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been confined to certain roles the

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assistant is a classic example but

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there's also a long history of women

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being associated with sorcery and

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witches but young Laura growing up as

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the daughter of a nightclub owner was

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unaware of such stereotypes I had no

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idea that there was an issue with women

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in Magic at all until much later because

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in my mom's nightclub she booked faay

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Presto another woman so unlike many

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parents who might have thought it was a

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silly thing uh she was very encouraging

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her mother's unusual career and

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encouragement of Laura suspended the

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illusion that this was an uneven playing

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field every time her birthday or

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Christmas rolled around she would

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receive a little bit of money and would

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go straight to the magic

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shop one of Laura's favorites was

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International magic once one of the many

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small magic shops in London it is now

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the only independent magic shop left in

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the city this is a family business with

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the magic community at its core owned by

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Martin McMillan over the 50 years that

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he's been running the shop a lot has

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changed but faces such as luras have

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remained the same It's a Small World

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Magic so uh our customers they do tend

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to become our friends the regular

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customers are our friends Laura is very

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interested in the history of magic and a

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actually is a very good magician very

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talented

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magician the role magic shops played go

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back in time that that was how people

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got their magic but there's nothing to

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equal in my mind going in and picking

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something up and actually seeing it live

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I'm still of that generation that

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remembers going to a little magic shop

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hidden and there is something about

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being able to go into a place asking the

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person behind the counter like Martin at

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International and say oh what what's new

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what have you got and they take it out

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and they show it to you International

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magic is the last of its kind but Laura

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believes that the industry has to do

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everything in its power to keep physical

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magic shops alive I think that's

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something that the younger generation

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are really going to lose if we lose any

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more magic

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shops the next chapter in Laura's

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Journey takes us to the magic

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circle I was the youngest female to ever

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join because I did my exam on my 18th

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birthday I was that dedicated to to

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Magic founded in 1905 the magic circle

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is an exclusive world-renowned Society

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of magicians based in London membership

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is selective and the group boasts some

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of the biggest names in Magic they're

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dedicated to advancing their art keeping

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its Secret Safe from public disclosure

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for a long time it was a boy club but

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from her first Gara dinner Laura felt at

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home I remember the night so so well

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nobody knew what to make of me I mean

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you have to also understand I was very

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new to the magic circle some of the guys

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the especially the older guys were a bit

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dubious of me was was I going to stick

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around I don't think they realized how

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seriously I took magic at all and this

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brings our story to the present as a

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result of people like Sophie and Laura

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The Tide is slowly beginning to turn

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particularly among younger magicians

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this is no more evident than at the

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magic circles youth Initiative Program

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as of 2024 the proportion of female

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magicians is at 15% the highest it's

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ever been and up from just 5% in

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2016 one of the really one wonderful

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upand coming stars of the of the magic

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circle youth initiative is AR Arabella

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she's just this lovely young magician

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who creates characters but it's so

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unique and so different I've never seen

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anything like it it's such a special

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thing to see this rise in young girls

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doing magic and doing it so well and

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finding their own personalities with it

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and finding their own style with it I

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think the best magicians in the world

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World they have the ability to

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understand magic but also believe in it

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sometimes I watch an illusion and I am

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so blown away because I have no idea how

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it's done and that feeling is so

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important if you want to make people

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feel a certain way you have to

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understand that feeling