Connect with us

Published

on

A shot of a rare underwater spawning that only takes place around a full moon once a year has been named as the winner of this year’s Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition.

Judges said French underwater photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta’s image, entitled Creation, has an “otherworldly beauty” and reveals a “fleeting moment of fascinating animal behaviour” that very few people have ever seen.

It has been selected as the winner of the Natural History Museum’s prestigious annual competition, now in its 57th year, from more than 50,000 entries from 95 countries.

Creation by Laurent Ballesta, from France, is the winner in the underwater category and also the overall winner of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition. Pic: Laurent Ballesta/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year
Image:
Creation by Laurent Ballesta – Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 winner

Ballesta’s photograph captures camouflage groupers darting away from a milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia. It was the result of returning to the lagoon every year for five years, diving day and night so as not to miss the annual spawning.

Writer and editor Rosamund Kidman Cox, chair of the judging panel, described the image as “surprising, energetic and intriguing” with “an otherworldly beauty”.

She added: “It also captures a magical moment – a truly explosive creation of life – leaving the tail-end of the exodus of eggs hanging for a moment like a symbolic question mark.”

Camouflage groupers are a vulnerable species threatened by overfishing, but in this area they are protected within a special biosphere reserve.

Natural History Museum director Dr Doug Gurr described Ballesta’s image as a “compelling reminder of what we stand to lose if we do not address humanity’s impact on our planet”, and said that “the protection provided to this endangered species by the biosphere reserve highlights the positive difference we can make”.

Dome Home by Vidyun R Hebba - a tent spider captured with a moving TukTuk in the background. The picture is the winner in the 10 years and under category in the 2021 Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: Vidyun R Hebbar/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year
Image:
Dome Home, by Vidyun R Hebba – Young Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 winner

Elsewhere, 10-year old Vidyun R Hebbar was awarded the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 award for Dome Home, a colourful image of a tent spider pictured near his home in the city of Bengaluru, in India, as a tuk-tuk passes by in the background.

Dr Natalie Cooper, a Natural History Museum researcher, said it was “a great reminder to look more closely at the small animals we live with every day, and to take your camera with you everywhere”.

The two overall winners were selected from 19 category winners, showcasing everything from stunning animal portraits to interesting behaviour, as well as photojournalism images and portfolios. Here are the 17 other category winners.

Grizzly Leftovers by Zack Clothier – Animals In Their Environment winner

Grizzly Leftovers by Zack Clothier, from the US, is the winner in the Animals In Their Environment category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition. Pic: Zack Clothier/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

US photographer Zack Clothier decided the remains of a bull elk in Montana provided the perfect spot to set up a camera trap to capture any interested animals passing by. But melted snow and fallen trees meant a challenging journey back to the scene, and when the photographer did return his set-up had been ruined. However, this surprising shot of a grizzly bear turned out to be his last frame.

Reflection by Majed Ali – Animal Portrait winner, and Bedazzled by Alex Mustard – Natural Artistry winner

Majed Ali's image of a mountain gorilla closing its eyes in the rain is the winner in the animal portraits category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition, while Alex Mustard's ghost pipefish hiding among the arms of a feather star wins in the natural artistry category. Pics: Majed Ali/ Alex Mustard - Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Majed Ali, from Kuwait, trekked for hours to find Kibande, an almost-40-year-old mountain gorilla, but it was worth it to get this snap of the ape closing its eyes in the rain, seemingly enjoying the shower. Mountain gorillas are found at altitudes of over 1,400 metres in two isolated populations – at the Virunga volcanoes in Rwanda and in Bwindi, Uganda – and are endangered due to habitat loss, disease, poaching and disruption caused by human activity.

UK photographer Alex Mustard’s image is of a juvenile ghost pipefish hiding among the arms of a feather star – its loud colours signify that it had not long landed on the reef; its colour pattern would later have changed, enabling it to blend in.

Spinning The Cradle by Gil Wizen – Behaviour: Invertebrates winner

While searching for arthropods in a forest near my home in southern Ontario Canada, I discovered a fishing spider (Dolomedes scriptus) under a slab of tree bark. Fishing spiders are common in wetlands where they feed on small aquatic animals, but they are also very common in temperate forests. The spider was in the process of producing an egg sac, so I decided to observe its behavior carefully without disturbance. I noticed it was spinning around in circles while also spinning webs, slowly constructing a silken disk that later turned into a hollow dish shape. At this point I decided to photograph the action, focusing on the separate silk threads coming out of the spider...s spinnerets. As I was watching the spider in its work, I couldn...t help noticing how similar the spinneret movements are to human fingers moving while weaving. I like that the photo shows the spider stretching the silk threads, right before incorporating them into the rest of the forming sac. After about an hour, the spider completed most of the sac and was getting ready to lay its eggs inside it, at which point I slowly moved the bark back in place and left the animal to its business. Spiders at the crucial stage of egg laying become stressed at the smallest disturbance and this can damage the embryos developing in the fresh eggs. I was happy with the photographs I got, and this was enough for me. There was no need to destroy the next generation of fishing spiders for the sake of obtaining more photos. ...Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. ...Technical specification: Canon EOS 7D; Laowa 100mm f2.8 lens; 1/100 sec at f10; ISO 100; Canon Macro Twin-Lite flash; custom made diffuser.

Gil Wizen (Israel/ Canada) discovered this fishing spider under some loose bark in a forest near his home in southern Ontario, and managed to capture it stretching out silk to weave into its egg sac. “The action of the spinnerets reminded me of the movement of human fingers when weaving,” Wizen said.

The Intimate Touch by Shane Kalyn – Behaviour: Birds winner

The Intimate Touch by Shane Kalyn, from Canada, is the winner in the Behaviour: Birds category of the 2021 Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: Shane Kalyn/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

This picture by Canadian photographer Shane Kalyn shows a raven courtship display captured in midwinter, the start of their breeding season. Lying on the frozen ground, he watched as the couple exchanged gifts – moss, twigs and small stones – and preened and serenaded each other before coming together for the perfect picture.

Head To Head by Stefano Unterthiner – Behaviour: Animals winner

Head To Head by Stefano Unterthiner, from Italy, is the winner in the Behaviour: Mammals category of the 2021 Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: Stefano Unterthiner/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Stefano Unterthiner, from Italy, followed these Svalbard reindeer during rutting season and caught these two battling for control of a harem, clashing antlers until the dominant male chased his rival away. Reindeer populations in the Arctic are affected by climate change, as increased rainfall can freeze on the ground and prevent access to plants that would otherwise sit under soft snow.

Where The Giant Newts Breed by Joao Rodrigues – Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles winner

Where The Giant Newts Breed is the winner in the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: João Rodrigues/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Joao Rodrigues, from Portugal, came across a pair of courting sharp-ribbed salamanders in a flooded forest – his first chance in five years to dive into the lake, which only emerges in winters of exceptionally heavy rainfall. He said he had a split second to adjust his camera settings and capture the moment before the newts swam away.

Nursery Meltdown by Jennifer Hayes – Oceans: The Bigger Picture winner

Nursery Meltdown by Jennifer Hayes, from the US, is the winner in the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition. Pic: Jennifer Hayes/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Following a storm, it took hours of searching by helicopter for US photographer Jennifer Hayes to find this fractured sea ice used as a birthing platform by harp seals. “It was a pulse of life that took your breath away,” she said of her image. Every autumn, harp seals migrate south from the Arctic to their breeding grounds, delaying births until the sea ice forms. But they depend on the ice – which means that future population numbers are likely to be affected by climate change.

Rich Reflections by Justin Gilligan – Plants And Fungi winner

Rich reflections by Justin Gilligan, from Australia, is the winner in the Plants and Fungi category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition. Pic: Justin Gilligan/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Justin Gilligan, from Australia, created the reflection of a marine ranger among the seaweed for this striking photograph, taken at the world’s southernmost tropical reef. He said he wanted to show how careful human management helps preserve a vibrant seaweed jungle – and had just 40 minutes in which tide conditions were right to get his image.

The Spider Room by Gil Wizen – Urban Wildlife winner

The Spider Room has been named the winner in the urban wildlife category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition. Pic: Gil Wizen/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

A second winning spider shot for Wizen, who found this venomous Brazilian wandering spider hiding under his bed after noticing tiny spiders all over the room. Yikes. Rather than run away, he grabbed his camera to capture what is one of the world’s most venomous spiders, which is the size of a human hand.

Road To Ruin by Javier Lafuente – Wetlands: The Bigger Picture winner

Road To Ruin by Javier Lafuente is the winner in the Wetlands category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition. Pic: Javier Lafuente/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Using a drone, Javier Lafuente, from Spain, captures the stark line of a road slicing through a wetland landscape, which is home to more than a hundred species of birds.

Elephant In The Room by Adam Oswell – Photojournalism winner

Elephant In The Room by Adam Oswell, from Australia, is the winner of the photojournalism award in the 2021 Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: Adam Oswell/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Adam Oswell, from Australia, said he was disturbed by this scene of zoo visitors watching a young elephant perform under water. Elephant tourism has increased across Asia and in Thailand there are now said to be more elephants in captivity than in the wild.

The Healing Touch by Brent Stirton – Photojournalist Story winner

Itsazo Velez, the director at the Lwiro Chimpanzee rescue and sanctuary centre in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, introduces two new rescued baby chimps into the juvenile enclosure in Brent Stirton's image, The Healing Touch. Pic: Brent Stirton/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Brent Stirton, from South Africa, profiled a rehabilitation centre caring for chimpanzees orphaned by the bushmeat trade in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This image shows the director of the centre sitting with a newly rescued chimp she is slowly introducing to the others.

Cool Time by Martin Gregus – Rising Star Portfolio winner

Cool time, from Land time for sea bears by Martin Gregus, Canada / Slovakia Winner, Rising Star Portfolio Award Caption: Martin Gregus (Canada/Slovakia) shows polar bears in a different light as they come ashore in summer. On a hot summer’s day, two female polar bears took to the shallow intertidal waters to cool off and play. Martin used a drone to capture this moment. For

him, the heart shape symbolises the apparent sibling affection between them and ‘the love we as people owe to the natural

This image by Martin Gregus (Canada/Slovakia) shows two female polar bears cooling off and playing in shallow waters around Hudson Bay in Canada. Captured with a drone, he said he felt the heart shape symbolises the apparent affection between the two animals and “the love we as people owe to the natural world”.

Face-Off by Angel Fitor – Portfolio Award winner

Face-Off, by Angel Fitor, is the winner of the portfolio award in the 2021 Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: Angel Fitor/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

These cichlid fish might look like they’re having a kiss, but they’re actually fighting over a snail shell. Angel Fitor, from Spain, captured the pair in Lake Tanganyika, which is spread across Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Zambia in Africa. Fitor monitored the lake bed for three weeks – and while this struggle was over in seconds, it was just long enough to get a winning shot.

Sunflower Songbird by Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco – 11-14 Years winner

Sunflower Songbird by Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco, from Spain Winner, is the winner in the 11-14 Years category of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2021 competition

Enjoying itself sitting in the sunflowers on a warm afternoon is a melodious warbler bird. Andres Luis Dominguez Blanco, from Spain, managed to shoot “the king of its territory” from his hide set up in his father’s car.

High-Flying Jay by Lasse Kurkela – 15-17 Years winner

High-Flying Jay by Lasse Kurkela, from Finland Winner, is the winner in the 15-17 Years category of the 2021 Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition. Pic: Lasse Kurkela/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Lasse Kurkela (Finland) watches a Siberian jay fly to the top of a spruce tree to stash its food. Lasse wanted to give a sense of scale in his photograph of the Siberian jay, tiny among the
Image:
Lasse Kurkela (Finland) watches a Siber

Lasse Kurkela, from Finland, used pieces of cheese to get Siberian jays accustomed to his remotely controlled camera and to encourage them to follow a particular flight path so he could get the exact shot he wanted – one of the birds high in the sky, tiny against the forest trees.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery trial: Everything you need to know

Published

on

By

Kim Kardashian's Paris robbery trial: Everything you need to know

In October 2016, Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint – with jewellery worth millions of dollars stolen during the audacious heist in Paris.

It was the biggest robbery of an individual in France for more than 20 years – and made front pages around the world.

Now, almost a decade on, the case is finally coming to court.

Why has it taken so long? Will Kardashian give evidence? And who exactly are the “grandpa robbers” facing trial?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Pic: Rex Features
Image:
Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

What happened?

Two years after Kardashian and rapper Kanye West tied the knot in an ostentatious week-long celebration spanning Paris and Florence, the Kardashian-West clan were back in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week.

More on Kim Kardashian

Her then husband had returned to the US to pick up his Saint Pablo tour – but Kardashian, along with her sister Kourtney and various members of their entourage, remained in Paris, staying in an exclusive set of apartments so discreet they’ve been dubbed the No Address Hotel.

Nestled on Tronchet Street, just a stone’s throw from Place de l’Opéra, and close to the fashionable Avenue Montaigne, the Hotel de Pourtalès is popular with A-list stars staying in the French capital.

A stay in the Sky Penthouse, the suite occupied by Kardashian, will currently set you back about £13,000 a night.

Kardashian was staying at the Hotel de Pourtales
Image:
Kardashian was staying at the Hotel de Pourtales

On the evening of 3 October, after attending a fashion show with her sister, Kardashian remained in the apartment alone while the rest of her convoy – including her bodyguard Pascal Duvier – went out for the night.

At about 2.30am, three armed men wearing ski masks and dressed as police forced their way into the apartment block – and according to investigators, they threatened the concierge at gunpoint.

Two of them are alleged to have forced the concierge to lead them to Kardashian’s suite. He later told police they yelled at him: “Where’s the rapper’s wife?”

Kardashian said she had been “dozing” on her bed when the men then entered her room.

She has said she believes her social media posts provided the alleged robbers with “a window of opportunity”.

“I was Snapchatting that I was home, and that everyone was going out,” she said in the months after the incident.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star vividly described the attack in a police report, as reported in the French weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche.

“They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. They tied me up with plastic cables and taped my hands, then they put tape over my mouth and my legs.”

She said they pointed a gun at her, asking specifically for her ring and also for money.

Police guard the entrance to the building where Kim has been staying
Image:
Police guard the entrance to the Hotel de Pourtalès the day after the robbery

Kardashian says they carried her into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. She said she was wearing only a bathrobe at the time.

She had initially thought the robbers “were terrorists who had come to kidnap me”, according to a French police report taken in New York three months after the robbery.

Kardashian told officers: “I thought I was going to die.”

According to police, the robbers – who left the room after grabbing their haul, escaped on bicycles with items estimated to be worth about $10m (£7.5m), including a $4m (£3m) 18.88-carat diamond engagement ring from West.

After they had left, Kardashian said she escaped her restraints and went to find help. After speaking to detectives, she immediately returned to the US on a private jet and later hired a completely new security team.

Kim Kardashian shows off a ring on Instagram
Image:
Kardashian shows off her $4m ring on Instagram

What was stolen?

As well as her engagement ring, Kardashian said the thieves took her large Louis Vuitton jewellery box, which she said contained “everything I owned”.

In police reports given to the French authorities at about 4.30am on the night of the alleged robbery, Kardashian listed these items as having been stolen:

• Two diamond Cartier bracelets
• A gold and diamond Jacob necklace
• Diamond earrings by Lauren Schwartz
• Yanina earrings
• Three gold Jacob necklaces
• Little bracelets, jewels and rings
• A Lauren Schwartz diamond necklace
• A necklace with six little diamonds
• A necklace with Saint spelt out in diamonds
• A cross-shaped diamond-encrusted Jacob cross
• A yellow gold Rolex watch
• Two yellow gold rings
• An iPhone 6 and a BlackBerry

Police recovered only the diamond-encrusted cross that was dropped by the robbers while leaving.

It’s likely the gold in the haul was melted down and resold, while the diamond engagement ring that is now so associated with the robbery would be far too recognisable to sell on the open market.

Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
Image:
Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

What will happen in court?

The hearing will begin at the Court of Appeal of Paris – the largest appeals court in France – on 28 April and is scheduled to last a month.

It will consist of a presiding judge, two professional assessors, and six main jurors.

The hearing involves more than 2,000 documents and there are four civil parties.

Kardashian at the Balenciaga show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
Image:
Kardashian at the Balenciaga show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

Who is being tried?

There were initially 12 defendants in the case, but one person has died and another has a medical condition that prevents their involvement. This means 10 people – nine men and one woman – are standing trial.

Five of them, who were all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident, face armed robbery and kidnapping charges. They are:

• Yunice Abbas
• Aomar Ait Khedache
• Harminv Ait Khedache
• Didier Dubreucq
• Marc-Alexandre Boyer

Abbas, 72, has admitted his participation in the robbery. In 2021, he published a book about the robbery, titled I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian. In 2021, a court ruled he would not benefit financially from the book.

Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, known to French crime reporters as “Old Omar”, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.

The remaining five defendants are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon. They are:

• Florus Heroui
• Gary Mader
• Christiane Glotin
• François Delaporte
• Marc Boyer

Among those, Mader was a VIP greeter who worked for the car company Kardashian used in Paris, and Heroui was a bar manager who allegedly passed on information about Kardashian’s movements.

With many of the accused now ageing and with various serious health conditions, and some having spent time in jail following their arrest, all are currently free under judicial supervision.

If found guilty, those accused of the more serious crimes could face 10 years to life imprisonment.

Pic: Rex Features
Image:
Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

Will Kardashian give evidence?

Yes.

Lawyer Michael Rhodes said Kardashian has “tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system” and “wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law and with respect for all parties to the case”.

A trainee lawyer herself, Kardashian has become a high-profile criminal justice advocate in the US in recent years.

(R-L)Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner. Pic: Rex Features
Image:
(R-L) Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner in the front row three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

Why has it taken so long to come to court?

There was initially a manhunt after the robbery, with French police under pressure to prove that Paris’s security was not in question.

Just the year before in 2015, the capital had been shaken by terrorist attacks by Islamic militants, in which 130 people were killed, including 90 at a music event at the Bataclan theatre.

French police initially arrested 17 people in the Kardashian case in January 2017 – three months after the robbery – assisted by DNA traces found on plastic bands used to tie her wrists. Twelve people were later charged.

It was ordered to be sent to trial in 2021 – at a time when limited court proceedings were happening due to multiple COVID lockdowns, and France was holding its largest ever criminal trial over the November 2015 terror attacks.

Kardashian at the Givenchy show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
Image:
Kardashian at the Givenchy show on the day of the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

What has Kardashian said about the incident?

Kardashian has described the robbery as a “life-changing” moment. She took three weeks away from filming her reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and took a three-month break from social media.

In a March 2017 episode titled Paris, Kardashian first spoke publicly about her ordeal.

She described first hearing a noise in her apartment, and calling out, thinking it was her sister and assistant: “At that moment when there wasn’t an answer, my heart started to get really tense. Like, you know, your stomach just kind of like, knots up and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s going on?’ I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

She went on: “They asked for money. I said, ‘I don’t have any money’. They dragged me out to the hallway on top of the stairs. That’s when I saw the gun, clear as day. I was looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs. I was like, I have a split second in my mind to make this quick decision.

“Either they’re going to shoot me in the back or if I make it [down the stairs] and the elevator does not open in time or the stairs are locked, there’s no way out.”

Three months later, she told a Forbes Power Women’s Summit she had changed her approach to posting on social media: “They had followed my moves on social media, and they knew my every move and what I had.”

She added: “It was definitely a huge, huge, huge lesson for me to not show off some of the things that I have. It was a huge lesson to me to not show off where I go.

“It’s just changed my whole life, but I think for the better.”

West and Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features
Image:
West and Kardashian at the Off-White show three days before the robbery. Pic: Rex Features

In October 2020, Kardashian told US interviewer David Letterman she feared she would be raped and murdered during the heist, and that her sister had been at the forefront of her mind during the incident.

Speaking on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Kardashian said: “I kept on thinking about Kourtney, I kept on thinking she’s going to come home and I’m going to be dead in the room and she’s going to be traumatised for the rest of her life if she sees me… I thought that was my fate.”

When speaking to French police about the impact the robbery had had on her three months after it, Kardashian said: “I think that my perception of jewellery now is that I am not as attached to it as I used to be. I don’t have the same feeling about it. In fact, I even think that it has become a bit of a burden to have the responsibility of such expensive jewels.

“There is nothing of sentimental value to compare with the act of going home and finding one’s children and one’s family.”

She went on to describe Paris as “not the right place” for her, and didn’t return to the French capital for two years following the robbery.

Kardashian has since said in a 2023 episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she did not purchase any jewellery in the seven years following the robbery, kept no jewellery at her home and only wore items that are either borrowed or fake.

She said the realisation that material items don’t matter has made her “a completely different person in the best way”.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

The Magic Circle’s first female member fooled them into believing she was a man – how did she do it?

Published

on

By

The Magic Circle's first female member fooled them into believing she was a man - how did she do it?

How did one woman fool the most famous magic society on the planet?

Back in 1991, Sophie Lloyd pulled off the ultimate illusion, tricking the Magic Circle into thinking she was a man.

But over 30 years after being unceremoniously kicked out, the Circle has tracked down the former actress to apologise and reinstate her membership.

She told Sky News how returning feels like the society has “made good on something that was wrong”.

Sophie Lloyd, who tricked the Magic Circle into believing she was a man
Image:
Sophie Lloyd, who tricked the Magic Circle into believing she was a man

How did she infiltrate that exclusive group that nowadays counts the likes of David Copperfield and Dynamo as members?

In March of that year, she took her entry exam posing as a teenage boy, creating an alter-ego called Raymond Lloyd.

“I’d played a boy before,” she explained, but “it took months of preparation” to secretly infiltrate the Circle’s ranks half a year before it would officially vote to let women in.

More from Ents & Arts

“Really, going back 30 years, men’s clubs were like, you know, just something you accepted.”

The men-only rule had been in place since the Circle was formed in 1905. The thinking behind it being that women just couldn’t keep secrets.

Aware of the frustration of female magicians at the time, Lloyd felt she was up for the challenge of proving women could be as good at magic as the men.

The idea was, in fact, born out of a double act, thought up by a successful magician called Jenny Winstanley who’d wanted to join herself but wasn’t allowed.

She recognised the hoax would probably only work with a much younger woman posing as a teenage boy, and met Lloyd through an acting class.

Sophie Lloyd as teenage magician Raymond Lloyd. Pic: Sophie Lloyd
Image:
Sophie Lloyd as teenage magician Raymond Lloyd. Pic: Sophie Lloyd

Lloyd said: “We had to have a wig made… the main thing was my face, I had plumpers made on a brace to bring his jawline down.”

To hide her feminine hands, she did the magic in gloves, which she says “was so hard to do, especially sleight of hand.”

The biggest test came when she was invited for a drink with her examiner, where she had to fake having laryngitis.

“After the exam, which was 20 minutes, he invited Jenny and I – she played my manager – and I sat there for one hour and three quarters and had to say ‘sorry, I’ve got a bad voice’.”

Raymond Lloyd passed the test, and his membership certificate was sent through to Sophie.

Then, in October of the same year, when whispers started circulating that the society was going to open its membership to both sexes, she and Jenny decided to reveal all. It didn’t go down well.

Read more:
Jelly Roll seeks pardon from criminal past
Harvey Weinstein retrial begins in New York

Rather than praise her performance, members were incandescent about the deception and, somewhat ironically, Raymond Lloyd was kicked out just before women members were let in.

Lloyd said: “We got a letter… Jenny was hurt… she was snubbed by people she actually knew, that was hurtful. However, things have really changed now…”

Three decades later the Magic Circle put out a nationwide appeal stating they wanted to apologise and Lloyd was recently tracked down in Spain.

While Jenny Winstanley died 20 years ago in a car crash, as well as Sophie receiving her certificate on Thursday, her mentor’s contribution to magic is being recognised at the special show that’s being held in both their honour at the Magic Circle.

Lloyd says: “Jenny was a wonderful, passionate person. She would have loved to be here. It’s for her really.”

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Counter terror police assessing Kneecap concert video

Published

on

By

Counter terror police assessing Kneecap concert video

Counter terror police are assessing a video reported to be from a concert by Irish rappers Kneecap.

A social media clip of the hip hop trio on stage appeared to show one member of the group shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.

The footage was posted online by Danny Morris from the Jewish security charity, the Community Security Trust.

He said it was from a gig last November at London’s Kentish Town Forum.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of the video and it has been referred to the counter terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.”

Hamas and Hezbollah are both proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK. Under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, it is an offence to express “an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation”.

Sky News has contacted Kneecap’s management for comment.

Read more from Sky News:
Istanbul hit by 6.2 magnitude earthquake
Starmer: Farage will ‘eat the Tory party for breakfast’

It comes after TV personality Sharon Osbourne called for Kneecap’s US work visas to be revoked after accusing them of making “aggressive political statements” including “projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech” at Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

In November last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK government after former business secretary Kemi Badenoch refused them funding.

Continue Reading

Trending