Jasper Maskelyne was, depending on who you ask, integral to the war effort or marginally successful at best.

Born into a family of established stage magicians in 1902, Jasper Maskelyne followed in his family’s footsteps, carving out a fruitful career as a stage magician. Prior to World War II, Maskelyne was performing in London. One of his most famous tricks—“swallowing” a handful of razor blades without ill effect—had the crowds flocking to watch his act. When not swallowing sharp objects, he was also skilled in a range of tricks from sleight of hand, card and rope tricks, as well as supposed “telepathy”.

When the war broke out, which surely brought down Maskelyne’s ticket sales, he began to wonder how to best utilize his considerable magical talents. Well, the front lines were not the best stage for picking pockets or chomping shaving implements, so Maskelyne decided the camouflage unit may have a place for him. Read more of this interesting article at:

https://wargaming.com/en/articles/blog/insights/jasper_maskelyne/