''50 Greatest Magic Tricks'' is a one-off list show that was produced by

Objective Productions Objective Media Group (OMG), previously known as Objective Productions, is a media company that produces shows in comedy, comedy drama, entertainment, factual entertainment and Magic. It has produced shows including '' The Cube'', ''Breaking Ma ...

for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. The programme counted down the fifty greatest

magic tricks Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

, as voted for by members of The Magic Circle. The illusion at number one was Death Saw by

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

. The show was presented by British comedy duo

Adam and Joe Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish are British comedy performers known together as Adam and Joe. They are best known for presenting ''Adam and Joe (radio show), Adam and Joe'' on BBC Radio 6 Music (2007–2009, 2011) and ''The Adam and Joe Show'' on C ...

, who also wrote and narrated the programme. The show was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 6 May 2002. The list was noted for including Ishamuddin Khan, an Indian street magician, with his

Indian rope trick The Indian rope trick is a magic trick said to have been performed in and around India during the 19th century. Sometimes described as "the world’s greatest illusion", it reputedly involved a magician, a length of rope, and one or more boy as ...

. Khan's illusion was ranked at number 20 on the list.

Magic tricks

– Death Saw (1995) #

David Blaine David Blaine (born April 4, 1973) is an American illusionist, endurance artist, and extreme performer. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance and has set and broken several world records. Early life Blaine was born and r ...

–

Levitation Levitation (from Latin ''levitas'' "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position, without mechanical support via any physical contact. Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts ...

The Pendragons Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon were a husband-and-wife team of American illusionists who called their work "physical grand illusion". They are widely known due to numerous national and international television appearances. Performing partnersh ...

– Metamorphosis #

Lance Burton William Lance Burton (born March 10, 1960) is an American stage magician. He performed more than 15,000 shows in Las Vegas for over 5,000,000 people until retiring after 31 years in 2010. Professional history Burton first became interested in ma ...

– Doves (1982) #

Robert Harbin Robert Harbin (born Edward Richard Charles Williams; 12 February 1908 – 12 January 1978) was a British magician and author. He is noted as the inventor of a number of classic illusions, including the ''Zig Zag Girl''. He also became an author ...

– Zig Zag Lady (1965) #David Copperfield – Flying (1995) #

Tom Mullica Thomas Blaine Mullica (August 19, 1948 – February 18, 2016) was an American comedy Magic (illusion), magician, Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist and actor who performed on television specials and appeared on ''Late Night with David Le ...

– Smoking Trick (1996) #

Paul Daniels Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', which ...

– Chop Cup (1985) # Richard Ross – Linking Rings (1983) # Hans & Helga Moretti – The Crossbow (1995) #

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo h ...

– The Magic Bullet (1996) #David Blaine – Card Revelation # Harry Blackstone Jnr – Floating Lightbulb (1977) #Lance Burton – Rollercoaster (1999) #

Simon Drake Simon Drake (born Simon Alexander; 1 March 1957) is an English magician based in London. He is best known for the television series ''The Secret Cabaret'' made for Britain's Channel 4. Early life Born in London, Drake is the son of a GP. Dr ...

–

Guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...

(1992) #

Siegfried & Roy Siegfried & Roy were a duo of German-American magicians and entertainers, best known for their appearances with white lions and white tigers. It was composed of Siegfried Fischbacher (June 13, 1939 – January 13, 2021) and Roy Horn (born Uwe ...

– Vanishing & Appearing Elephant (1994) # Amazing Orchante – Ball of String (1987) # Robert Gallup – Death Dive (1996) #

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows f ...

– Blair Witch Illusion (2000) # Ishamuddin Khan –

Indian Rope Trick The Indian rope trick is a magic trick said to have been performed in and around India during the 19th century. Sometimes described as "the world’s greatest illusion", it reputedly involved a magician, a length of rope, and one or more boy as ...

(1999) #Simon Drake – Swords Illusion (1990) #Siegfried & Roy – Interlude (1994) #

David Berglas David Berglas (born 30 July 1926) is a British magician and mentalist of German-Jewish descent. His secret technique of locating a particular card within a pack has been described as the Holy Grail of card magic. He was one of the first magicia ...

– The Human Body (1986) # Amazing Jonathan – Knife Illusion (1996) #Paul Daniels – TV Camera Trick (1984) #Derren Brown – The Art Gallery (2000) #

Paul Zenon Paul Zenon (born Paul Collins) is an English stage and TV magician, comedian, presenter and writer. He is the author of three books on magic, proposition bets and practical jokes, and an expert on the history of magic and magicians, variety, ...

– Tax Disc (2000) # Tommy Cooper – Multiplying Bottles (1967) #Amazing Jonathan – The Skewer (2001) #David Berglas – The Table (1981) # Great Soprendo – Torn and Restored Newspaper ('' Crackerjack'', 1982) #Paul Daniels – Electric Chair (1989) #Penn & Teller – Snake Trick (1991) #

James Hydrick James Alan Hydrick (born February 28, 1959) is an American former stage performer and self-described psychic, and convicted sex offender. Hydrick claimed to be able to perform acts of telekinesis, such as his trademark trick of moving a pencil re ...

– Telephone Pages (1980) #Robert Gallup – Straitjacket Escape (2000) #Lance Burton – Osmosis Illusion (1997) # Fay Presto – Bottle Trick (1996) # Stevie Starr – Goldfish (1992) #

Spoon Bending Spoon bending is the deformation of objects, especially metal cutlery, purportedly by paranormal means. It is a common theme for magic tricks, which use a variety of methods to produce the effect. Performers commonly use misdirection to draw t ...

#Paul Zenon – Snooker Card Trick (2000) #

Melinda Saxe Melinda is a feminine given name. Etymology The modern name ''Melinda'' is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melissa (μέλισσα) meaning ...

– The Drill of Death (1999) #Derren Brown – Subway Hypnosis (2001) # Meir Yedid – Fingertip Fantasies (1985) #Penn & Teller – Truck Trick (1990) # Mark Mottram – Thumb Tie (2000) #Harry Blackstone Jnr –

Vanishing Bird Cage The vanishing bird cage, also known as the flying birdcage, is a classic parlour magic effect that was invented by French magician Buatier De Kolta. The trick has also been used by magicians Carl Hertz, Harry Beardmore, Harry Blackstone ( Sr. and ...

(1987) #

Guy Hollingworth Guy Hollingworth (born 1974) is an English barrister, conjurer, author and lecturer. As a conjurer he is known for his skilful performances of card magic and for his books and lectures in which he presents original tricks and routines. Career H ...

– The Reformation (1997) #

Shahid & Lisa Malik ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

– Sword Box (1991) #

Juan Tamariz Juan Tamariz-Martel Negrón (born 18 October 1942, Madrid) known professionally as Juan Tamariz or just Tamariz, is a Spanish magician. American stage magician Ricky Jay once said he considered Tamariz a magician people will remember. Tamari ...

– 4 Blue Cards (1996) #Franz Harary – Vanishing Space Shuttle (1994)

Reception

In a review of the programme, magician

Ian Rowland Ian Rowland (born 11 May 1961) is a corporate speaker, trainer and consultant based near London, England. He has been a contributor to The Straight Dope Message Board and guest contributor of Staff Reports under the user name ianzin. Citing Ro ...

praised the production of the show, saying that its content was "almost uniformly superb" and that it was a "golden credit to its makers". He was considerably more critical of Adam and Joe's presenting, calling the pair "dismal" and their contributions "an unmitigated disaster". Rowland also questioned the final list – he bemoaned the lack of

close-up magic Close-up magic (also known as table magic or micromagic) is magic performed in an intimate setting usually no more than 3 meters (10 feet) from one's audience and is usually performed while sitting at a table. Sleight-of-hand, also known as pr ...

tricks in favour of large illusions on stage.

Legacy

The special was featured in a 2018 episode of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

show ''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers t ...

''. One hundred members of the public had been given 100 seconds to name, from memory, as many magicians on the list as possible. The episode's finalists, Robert Lindsay and his daughter Sydney Stevenson, then had to name any magician who had not been listed by the 100 people. Paul Daniels, David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, David Blaine, Tommy Cooper, Derren Brown and The Great Soprendo were the only magicians to be named by the 100 people.

References

External links

* * *{{Thetvdb, id=4310238, title=50 Greatest Magic Tricks *
Fifty Greatest Magic Tricks
' at the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

2002 television specials British television specials Channel 4 documentaries English-language television shows Magic tricks Television series by All3Media Greatest magic tricks