biography
| name: |
Houdin, (Jean Eugène) Robert
|
pronunciation:
[oodĩ]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1805–71)
|
| biography:
| Conjurer, considered the father of modern conjuring, born in Blois, C France. He made mechanical toys and automata in Paris for some years, and gave magical soirées at the Palais Royal (1845–55). In 1856 he was sent by the government to Algiers to counter the influence of the dervishes by exploring the authenticity or otherwise of their ‘miracles’. |
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