The Magic Circle has readmitted a female magician expelled for tricking her way into the previously all-male institution by disguising herself as a man.
“We’re proud to welcome back magician Sophie Lloyd to The Magic Circle,” said the London-based magic society in an Instagram post Thursday.
“Over 30 years ago, Sophie took extraordinary steps to pursue her passion — disguising herself as ‘Raymond Lloyd’ to join our then all-male society,” reads the post.
“Though she passed her exam and earned her place, she was expelled when her true identity was revealed – on the very day we finally voted to admit women. Today, we right that wrong,” it adds.
The Magic Circle’s purpose is to “promote and advance the art of magic,” according to its website.
Magicians have to prove their skill to be admitted, and must promise to abide by the society’s Latin motto, “Indocilis private loqui” (“not apt to disclose secrets”).
Founded in 1905, the magic society didn’t admit women in the late 1980s when Lloyd, an actress, was persuaded by her friend, a magician called Jenny Winstanley, to apply for membership.
Winstanley didn’t think she would get away with playing the role of a man, so she enlisted Lloyd’s help.
The women trained for 18 months in magic as well as how to act, dress and sound like a man.
Lloyd passed the entrance exam, which required her to perform tricks in front of members of the society, and started as an apprentice before becoming a full member in March 1991.
A campaign to admit women into the all-male society was successful in October that year, and it was after this vote that Lloyd revealed her true self – only to be kicked out.
In November 2024, the Magic Circle’s chairwoman, Laura London, launched a campaign to track Lloyd down. She had found it “difficult to find her,” adding that the “orchestrated deception” was “so brilliantly put together, almost like a heist.
More than three decades later, Lloyd said she is “beyond thrilled” to be welcomed back.
Speaking on the Today program on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, Lloyd recounted how she wore a bodysuit, gloves and plastic cheek plumpers to disguise her true identity.
“I did a 20-minute show in front of 200 people, three examiners, and spoke to an examiner for an hour and three quarters afterwards,” she said.
Despite being expelled after admitting her deception, Lloyd said it was “emotional” to be readmitted, given that Winstanley, who was the brains behind her character Raymond, had died in 2004.
“I think Jenny would have loved it,” she said.
The society now has more than 80 female members, according to its website. This makes up about 5% of its cohort of more than 1,700 members.
Among the most famous members are magician Dynamo, actor Stephen Fry and even King Charles III, who joined when he was still a prince in 1975, after performing a cups and balls trick, according to the Magic Circle.
