John Nevil Maskelyne, known professionally as Nevil Maskelyne (1863–1924), was a British magician and inventor.

Biography

Maskelyne was born in 1863 Cheltenham (bapt 22 July 1863) to stage magician

John Nevil Maskelyne John Nevil Maskelyne (22 December 183918 May 1917) was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with other Victorian-era devices. He worked with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, and many of his illusions a ...

(1839-1917) and his wife Elizabeth née Taylor (1840-1911). Following his father's death he assumed control of Maskelyne's Ltd. In

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...

he was the manager of

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which controlled the

Valdemar Poulsen Valdemar Poulsen (23 November 1869 – 23 July 1942) was a Danish engineer who made significant contributions to early radio technology. He developed a magnetic wire recorder called the telegraphone in 1898 and the first continuous wave rad ...

patents. He was a public detractor of Guglielmo Marconi in the early days of

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

(wireless). In 1903 he hacked into Marconi's demonstration of wireless telegraphy, and broadcast his own message, hoping to make Marconi's claims of "secure and private communication" appear foolish.

Works

Maskelyne wrote several books on magic, including ''Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic'' (with David Devant) and ''On the Performance of Magic''.

Family and death

Maskelyne married Ada Mary Ardley (1863–1918) on 9 July 1888 at St Mary's Church, Battersea, London. They had three sons and a daughter: * John Nevil (known as Jack), who was to become a noted author on railway matters and editor of Model Railway News in the early 20th century (J.N. Maskelyne) * Noel *

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(1902–73), who continued the family tradition of professional magic. * Mary He died in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

on 22 September 1924.

References

External links

*
Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Maskelyne, Nevil 1863 births 1924 deaths British inventors British magicians British sceptics Radio pioneers Amateur radio people People from Cheltenham