Magicians

Turning one ball into two with sleight of hand. In this trick the magician uses a rubber ball and a metal shell covering it, as in the first picture (right), and the audience thinks they see one real ball. The next two pictures show the magician secretly separating the shell from the ball. In the last picture he shows the shell and the ball as if they were two real balls.

📖 In short

A stage magician, or conjurer, is a performer who does tricks that seem impossible: pulling a dove out of a hat, making a coin vanish in their hand, and knowing the card you picked. But it isn't real magic, it's sleight of hand, skill and cleverness!

🤩 Did you know?

One of the most famous tricks is “sawing the assistant in half” in a box without hurting her, first shown by a British magician in 1921.
The cups and balls trick is one of the oldest tricks in history.
Houdini was a magician famous for escaping from boxes and chains.
You can learn simple tricks with playing cards or coins and amaze your friends.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Sleight of hand

A conjurer practices for hours every day until their hands are very fast, so they can hide and swap things without you noticing.

🔍 Misdirection

One secret of tricks is that the magician gets the audience to watch their right hand while the left hand does the trick! Or they talk and laugh to draw your attention away from what they're doing.

💡 Secret props

Magicians use props with secrets: boxes with hidden pockets, special playing cards and mirrors that hide things. And they only reveal their secrets to their students.

🎯 An ancient art

People have known conjuring tricks for a very long time: the ancient Egyptians did the cups and balls trick, which is still performed today.

🧩 Test yourself

1 Are a magician's tricks real magic?

2 What's the secret of many tricks?

3 Which picture shows “Magicians”?