Long-overdue celebration for woman who tricked her way into the Magic Circle

Deception has always been an integral part of magic. So when Sophie Lloyd set about attempting to gain access to the formerly male-only ranks of the Magic Circle, she concocted an elaborate disguise.

- Jessica Murray

To become the magician Raymond Lloyd, she wore a male bodysuit, wig, gloves to disguise her feminine hands - making sleight of hand even more difficult - and "plumpers" in her mouth to give herself a square jaw.

"I had to change my look completely. We took it very seriously," said Lloyd, now in her 60s, sitting in the Magic Circle headquarters in London 30 years after she donned the disguise to pass the entry exam.

"I remember feeling a bit foolish standing up there in front of the three [Magic Circle] examiners, and a big audience of over 200. I was very nervous, but it worked. When I did the interview afterwards, I pretended I had a very bad throat to disguise my voice, and he totally believed it."

The deception was a success, and Lloyd was duly admitted to the exclusive society. But when she later revealed herself to be a woman, after hearing rumours the society was on the brink of admitting female members, her membership was revoked.

Ironically, she was ejected from the Magic Circle on the same day the first women were admitted as members in October 1991.

Now, 30 years later, Lloyd will be welcomed as a member of the Magic Circle at a show today, after being successfully tracked down through a public appeal last year.