Jasper Masculine

gibbs

New Member
I was reading a few things about Lawrence of Arabia when (for some unknown reason) Jasper Masculine poped into my head. I remember watching a TV programme about him when i was a child. The search engines im using don't bring up any information on him so would anyone kindly post some info?

If i remember he was the guy that created decoy airbases and even a river or something!? Please clear me up on this :)

Cheers
 
I believe you mean Jasper Maskelyne. You can find an entire book about him here:

http://www.battlefieldbks.com/index.cgi?cart_id=953248.10767&pid=000891

He was a British magician adept at fooling the eye. He did indeed do many incredible things in camouflage etc and he actually did hide a river. The Nile no less! He didn't actually conceal it but by changing the arch and emplacements of search lights he was able to "move" it so that the Germans bombed the wrong place.
 
Interesting. Tom Cruise is going to play him in an upcoming movie. Should be good. Hope they don't bend history too much.
 
Well, that would be going too far. I'm sure Cruise can do a passable British accent. Time will tell of course.
 
Ten years ago I researched the real story behind Jasper Maskelyne.
I interviewed in depth Jasper's son. I also pulled apart the erroneous material in David Fisher's book, The War Magician.
I recently uncovered the identity of the ghostwriter who helped produce Magic: Top-Secret (1949),Maskelyne's unreliable 'memoirs'.
This material can be found on my website at maskelynemagic.com
I am updating this site each month.
A definitive article on Jasper Maskelyne will appear later this year in an American Conjurors' magazine.
In brief, Maskelyne did not rescue Alexandria from aerial attack. He did not make the Suez Canal disappear. He was not involved in the creation of the deception plan at El Alamein. He was not involved in the D-Day deception.
Peter Weir , a fellow Australian, will not be making a film of the War Magician.
However, one thing is certain. The legend of the War Magician will live on.
As Barthes said: "Myth is invulnerable to mere facts".
 
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