John Nevil Maskelyne

Who was John Nevil Maskelyne?

John Nevil Maskelyne was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with many other Victorian-era devices. Working with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, many of his illusions are still performed today. His book Sharps and Flats: A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill is considered a classic overview of card sharp practices, and in 1914 he founded the Occult Committee, a group whose remit was to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud".