The Magic Circle has been searching for a woman named Sophie Lloyd. Thirty-five years ago she—with the help of her friend, magician Jenny Winstanley—disguised herself as a man and passed the exams to be a Circle member, something only men were allowed to do at the time.
The Circle unceremoniously kicked her out when she revealed she was, in fact, a woman (something she only did, ironically, when the organization opened up admission to female magicians in 1991). Recently, The Circle has apologized for the society’s conduct and began searching for Lloyd.
After weeks, that search has proven successful. Lloyd, who now lives in Spain, found out about the search after her sister sent her an article about it. And while she was initially reluctant to once again become a member of The Circle, she ultimately agreed to it in late April in honor of her late friend, Winstanley, who sadly passed away in a car accident in 2004. “This is for Jenny, really,” Lloyd told the BBC. “I just think Jenny would have loved it.”
Photos by Brendan Rodrigues, courtesy of The Magic Circle
