Peter Eldin (born 1939) is a British author and magician. He has written almost two hundred books; most of them are non-fiction for young people. According to

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

there are "132 works in 188 publications in 12 languages and 8,912 library holdings." He writes mainly on factual material, fun (puzzles, quizzes, jokes, and games) and magic for children, and has also edited magic magazines ''The Magic Circular'' and ''Abracadabra'', and written scripts for TV shows including ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

''.

Books for children

He is best known for the series of humorous instructional books for children such as ''The Trickster's Handbook'' (1976), ''The Secret Agent's Handbook'' (1977) and ''The Whizzkid's Handbook'' (1979), full of tricks, games, puzzles, and advice, with illustrations by Roger Smith. The following gives a brief flavour of these works: "tell your friends you can kiss a book 'inside and outside' without opening it - then prove it by kissing the book while standing outdoors ... and then indoors. Something semiserious? Baffle your buddies with vanishing water or instant indoor rainbows." The series was adapted for television in 1980 as ''The Whizzkids Guide'' starring

Kenneth Williams Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 '' ...

Rita Webb Olive Rita Webb (25 February 1904 – 30 August 1981), later known as Olive Rita Thompson, was an English character actress, mainly in comedy roles. She was the eldest child of Henry Augustus Webb (1880–1926) and Rose Jeannette Keysor. She had ...

and

Arthur Mullard Arthur Ernest Mullard (né Mullord; 19 September 1910His obituary in ''The Times'' gives his date of birth as 10 November 1910 but conflicts with the birthdate given in his death registration. His year of birth appears as 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1 ...

as overgrown schoolchildren. Williams said "the script is full of corny gags which actually make me laugh". School Library Journal called ''The Magic Handbook'' "an excellent standard source for magical tricks and advice for most children's library collections for many years to come." His book ''Magic'' (1998) has also received praise as an informative history of magic.Daigneault, Audrey I., "Reference books & nonfiction series", Library Talk, 1043237X, Mar/Apr98, Vol. 11, Issue 2. ''The Spookster's Handbook'' (CIP Sterling, 1989) is "an entertaining little gem that's chock-full of zany ideas for Halloween", including haunted house ideas, optical illusions, tricks, and riddles, aimed at kids, parents, teachers, and group leaders.

Magic

In addition to writing several books on

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

(illusionism), he is also an honorary member of the magicians' organisation the

Magic Circle A magic circle is a circle of space marked out by practitioners of some branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be mark ...

. He was involved in curating the Magic Circle's museum in the 1970s and edited the Circle's magazine ''The Magic Circular'' from 1990-1998.Eddie Dawes, "From Pillar To Post", in ''Circle Without End: The Magic Circle 1905-2005'', ed Edwin A Dawes and Michael Bailey, Jeremy Mills, 2005, p54, pp99–103

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eldin, Peter 1939 births British writers British magicians Living people British non-fiction writers British male writers Historians of magic British male non-fiction writers