The woman who fooled Britain's most elite magic club —the trick she adoped was more than magic!

In a world where sleight of hand and illusion are daily currency, Sophie Lloyd pulled off the most insane magic trick of them all and not on stage, but on the institution itself. She managed to infiltrate Britain’s most elite society of magicians, the Magic Circle , not with a vanishing act or a deck of cards, but by becoming a man.

Back in 1991, it didn’t matter how talented you were. If you were a woman, you couldn’t join. So Lloyd created “Raymond”—complete with a fake jawline, gloves, a wig, and a fake voice. With that disguise, she fooled the very people whose job it was to fool others.

For nearly two years, she played the role, passed all the tests, and earned applause. Yet when the Magic Circle finally agreed to let women in, they kicked her out—for exposing how unfair things had been.

Now, more than 30 years later, Sophie Lloyd has been welcomed back—with no disguise this time. And the applause? It’s genuine.


"I never wanted to deceive for the sake of it," Lloyd told The Guardian in an April 2025 interview. "It was always to make a point."

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in philosophy and psychology, she found herself shut out of a world she loved. The Magic Circle, founded in 1905, had never let a single woman join. “They said women could be assistants, not magicians,” she remembered. “It drove me crazy.”

So she became Raymond. She stayed silent, walked differently, and kept her presence low-key. Only her hands gave her away—and those were covered.

"It was like being in a play," she said. "Everyone else was playing a part. I just played mine better."

When the Magic Circle finally voted to admit women in 1991, Lloyd came clean. She thought they’d accept her. Instead, they expelled her.

“They said I lied,” she said. “But wasn’t it dishonest to shut women out in the first place?”

News of her story spread fast. Feminists applauded her courage. People were fascinated by how she had outsmarted a society of illusionists. The BBC covered the story in 1991, and it continued to be cited in later retrospectives, like The Guardian’s 2025 profile.

“What I did was a form of performance,” she said. “It made people think.”

In April 2025, after 34 years, the Magic Circle officially invited Sophie Lloyd back.

"It took them long enough," she joked. "But I’m glad it happened."


The invitation came with an apology. The Magic Circle admitted their 1991 decision was more about bruised pride than right and wrong.

"I was a mirror," Lloyd told The Guardian. "They just didn’t like what they saw."

She’s now one of the group’s few honorary members—and the only one to ever get in by becoming someone else. Her story is now part of magic history . Not because of the tricks, but because of the truth behind them.

These days, Lloyd teaches magic to young people, especially women and nonbinary performers. She tells them they shouldn’t have to hide who they are to be taken seriously.

"The old system was all about keeping people out. But sometimes, the best way to open a locked door is to tell your story," she said.