Fergus Anckorn on Richard Jones’ cards from BGT

18 January 2022

Lance Corporal Richard Jones is the first magician to win the Britain’s Got Talent TV show. These are the playing cards he used in his act. The cards depict former-soldier and magician Fergus Anckorn, who appeared on stage with Richard in the final of the competition. Born in 1918, Fergus served in the Second World War. He was captured by the Japanese, and survived a massacre, then starvation and slavery as a prisoner of war working on building the Burma Railway, known as the Death Railway, and the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai. He used his magic to raise the spirits of the other prisoners of war and to earn food from the Japanese. Fergus passed away at the age of 99 in 2018, but not before becoming the longest serving member of The Magic Circle.

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