{"id":26837,"date":"2025-04-12T06:09:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T06:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/the-scottish-magician-who-inspired-the-great-houdini\/"},"modified":"2025-04-12T06:09:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T06:09:54","slug":"the-scottish-magician-who-inspired-the-great-houdini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/the-scottish-magician-who-inspired-the-great-houdini\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scottish magician who inspired the great Houdini"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Ken Banks<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC Scotland, Aberdeen<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Apic\/GettyApic\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

John Henry Anderson, shown in an engraving, found worldwide fame with his magic<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Magician John Henry Anderson died in 1874, the same year Harry Houdini was born – yet despite the two never meeting, Anderson was reputedly among the legendary escapologist’s greatest inspirations.<\/p>\n

Anderson – who was born in 1814 in Aberdeenshire’s Kincardine O’Neil area – is thought to have been among the first magicians to pull a live rabbit out of a top hat.<\/p>\n

He became known as “The Great Wizard of the North” as his status grew around the world.<\/p>\n

After Anderson’s death, famed illusionist Houdini travelled to Aberdeen, visited his fellow entertainer’s grave, and even started to pay for its upkeep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As the 100th anniversary of the Aberdeen Magical Society approaches, Anderson’s story is being retold for a new generation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Houdini, left, paid for the upkeep of John Henry Anderson’s gravestone in Aberdeen<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland are famed for such things as the oil and gas industry, the Northern Lights, and the humble local food delicacy the buttery.<\/p>\n

The area’s links to the world of magic, however, are far less well known.<\/p>\n

John Henry Anderson became one of the biggest names in the entertainment world in the mid 19th Century.<\/p>\n

As a boy, he had joined a travelling theatre company.<\/p>\n

It is not known who introduced him to magic or indeed taught him.<\/p>\n

But as his expertise grew he ultimately took his act to audiences around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dave Goulding sometimes cleans John Henry Anderson’s gravestone in Aberdeen<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Dave Goulding is a magic historian, escapologist, and Aberdeen Magical Society’s vice-president.<\/p>\n

“He was the most famous variety act in the UK for a while,” he told BBC Scotland News of Anderson.<\/p>\n

“He took magic off the streets and legitimised it.”<\/p>\n

Anderson opened a theatre in Glasgow, but it was later destroyed by fire.<\/p>\n

He would then travel as far as Australia in the 1860s, and even performed for Queen Victoria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anderson was seen as a confident self-publicist.<\/p>\n

“He realised more people were getting literate, which was then good for publicity,” Dave said.<\/p>\n

“He used to do daft things, such as using reverse moulds on butter to leave beautiful designs.”<\/p>\n

Anderson died the same year Houdini was born, but Dave said Houdini was inspired by him “through his reputation” in the years that followed.<\/p>\n

Dave explained: “He was a great showman.<\/p>\n

“This was an idea Houdini liked – a lot of his tricks were for publicity, he was selling his shows.”<\/p>\n

Anderson died at the age of 60.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Who was Harry Houdini?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Harry Houdini – his professional name – was born as Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874.<\/p>\n

He found fame thanks to his extraordinary escapes.<\/p>\n

These included freeing himself from chains, ropes, and straitjackets under water.<\/p>\n

His name is still renowned to this day, far beyond just magic circles.<\/p>\n

Last year’s Glastonbury music festival headliner Dua Lipa had a recent track titled Houdini.<\/p>\n

It features the lyric: “Catch me or I go Houdini”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Houdini is photographed in Boston in the early 1900s<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In the early 1900s, Houdini made his one and only visit to Aberdeen to perform.<\/p>\n

While in the so-called Granite City, he took the chance to visit John Henry Anderson’s grave in St Nicholas Kirkyard, and was photographed next to it.<\/p>\n

He decided to fund its upkeep.<\/p>\n

Houdini died in 1926 at the age of 52.<\/p>\n

The grave in Aberdeen still stands to this day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The magician’s grave is in Aberdeen city centre<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Dave Goulding said Anderson’s grave is far from forgotten.<\/p>\n

“I give it a tidy now and again,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We get American magicians coming over and they want to see Anderson’s grave, as he is still known.<\/p>\n

“Magicians know each other throughout the world.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Do you have any magic artefacts?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Aberdeen Magical Society was founded in 1926, coincidentally the same year Houdini died.<\/p>\n

With its centenary approaching next year, special events are being planned, including an exhibition.<\/p>\n

The society<\/a> is appealing for historic magic artefacts that it could borrow and feature.<\/p>\n

“Aberdeen and the north east are home to many magic luminaries that are known the world over,” Dave said.<\/p>\n

“As well as highlighting the celebrities, we want to make sure the upcoming exhibition tells the story of our society and its members, from 1926 to the present day.<\/p>\n

“If anyone has any posters, programmes or other artefacts relating to the society, we would love to see them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Ken Banks BBC Scotland, Aberdeen Apic\/Getty Images John Henry Anderson, shown in an engraving, found worldwide fame with his magic Magician John Henry Anderson died in 1874, the same year Harry Houdini was born – yet despite the two never meeting, Anderson was reputedly among the legendary escapologist’s greatest inspirations. Anderson – who was born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[3791,9505,152,9504,1706],"class_list":["post-26837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scotland","tag-great","tag-houdini","tag-inspired","tag-magician","tag-scottish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26839,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26837\/revisions\/26839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}