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John Nevil Maskelyne

John Nevil Maskelyne, English magician (died 1917)

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Born
December 22, 1839
Died
May 18, 1917
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1839

About John Nevil Maskelyne

John Nevil Maskelyne (22 December 1839 – 18 May 1917) was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with other Victorian-era devices. He worked with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, and many of his illusions are still performed today. His book Sharps and Flats: A Complete Revelation of the Secrets of Cheating at Games of Chance and Skill is considered a classic overview of card sharp practices. In 1914 he founded the Occult Committee, a group to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud".

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

John Nevil Maskelyne timeline

  1. In 1914 he founded the Occult Committee, a group to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud".
  2. In 1914 he founded the Occult Committee, a group to "investiga.

The world when John Nevil Maskelyne was born

John Nevil Maskelyne was born in 1839. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineFirst Opium War begins between Britain and China
  • Technology milestonePhotography (daguerreotype) announced to the world
  • Notable inventionDaguerreotype camera
  • World population~1.19B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderMartin Van Buren
  • U.S. population16.7M

1839 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in John Nevil Maskelyne's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18392026
Population16.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.