Fergus Anckorn, who has died aged 99, began his career as a conjurer called “Wizardus” aged 18 when he was the youngest member of the Magic Circle; by the time of his death he was its oldest and longest-serving member.
In later life Anckorn revealed how magic tricks had saved his life during three-and-a-half years of captivity as a prisoner of war of the Japanese, during which he became known as “the conjurer on the River Kwai”. He survived several brushes with death including one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century – the massacre of patients and medical staff by Japanese soldiers at the Alexandra Military Hospital, Singapore.
One of four children of a journalist, and one of boy-girl...