The Magic Men Trivia Quiz

Answer: David Copperfield

Copperfield owns the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas, a museum which is home to the largest collection of Harry Houdini memorabilia and not open to the public, instead it is made available to other magicians or scholars of the art of illusion.

Answer: Tommy Cooper

Cooper was a talented magician, much respected by his peers, but to his adoring public he was always the magician for whom nothing went right, apart from that one moment, during his most ambitious trick when it did. A natural showman, he died on live TV in 1984, midway through his show and his place as a magical buffoon has never been filled.

Answer: Criss Angel

While other illusionists cut other people in half, Criss Angel is known for cutting himself in half, as well as getting run over by a steam roller and walking up the side of buildings. Held in high regard by his peers, Angel won International Magician Society's "Magician of the Decade" title in 2009 and "Magician of the Century" in 2010.

Answer: Paul Daniels

Daniels was a mainstay of Saturday night TV in the UK for 15 years, his magic show attracting millions of viewers, and although he wasn't widely known outside the UK, he was hugely admired by fellow magicians. He became the first magician ever to receive every award bestowed by The Magic Circle and is credited by many younger magicians as having had a huge influence on them. Daniels died in 2016 of a brain tumour.

Answer: David Blaine

Blaine is an extraordinary street magician, specialising in close up magic, usually involving playing cards and dollar bills. Although Blaine has gone on to perform several large scale endurance stunts such as "Vertigo" in New York City and "Above The Below" in London, he often returns to low-key street magic and for me personally this is real magic, simple yet beautiful and completely mystifying.

Answer: Ali Bongo

Ali Bongo was an incredible magician from my youth, who although his own TV show was short lived made many guest appearances on other shows, and all without saying a word. He was so highly thought of in his field that he acted as magic adviser to top magicians like David Nixon and Paul Daniels as well as countless other TV shows and operas, ballets and plays. David Renwick, the creator of TV show "Jonathan Creek" based the lead character on Bongo, a master of illusion, even down to the fact that his house was filled with books on magic, costumes and hand built props until there was no room for him to live there.

Answer: Lance Burton

Burton's Las Vegas residency lasted from June 21, 1996 to September 4, 2010, during which time he played to over 5,000,000 people over the course of in excess of 15,000 shows in the $27 million purpose built Lance Burton Theater. The shows earned Burton an estimated $110 million and he retired after his final Vegas show.

Answer: Dynamo

Dynamo turned to magic after being bullied as a child and in 2016, won the Magician of the Year award from The Academy of Magical Arts. He has also appeared in several advertising campaigns, most notably for Adidas and Pepsi. After having to have half of his stomach removed when he was seventeen due to Crohn's Disease, he has helped to increase awareness of the disease by speaking in public about it on many occasions.

Answer: Sooty

Sooty's TV show, along with Corbett of course, began in 1955 and is still running in 2018, with Corbett's son Matthew as Sooty's assistant. According to Guinness World Records, is the longest-running continuing children's programme in the UK with over 850 episodes broadcast.

In 1976, when Harry Corbett was awarded the OBE, a miniature medal was awarded to Sooty, who also managed to squirt Prince Philip with his water pistol at the ceremony. Interesting trivia fact, Harry Corbett was the nephew of Harry Ramsden, who started the UK fish and chip shop chain bearing his name.

Answer: Harry Houdini

This was an escape that Houdini performed many times and was one of the pieces that made him so famous, along with other seemingly impossible feats such as the
"suspended straitjacket escape" and the "milk can escape". Houdini died from peritonitis in 1926.