Fergus Gordon Anckorn (10 December 1918 – 22 March 2018)[1] was a British soldier who, as starting as the conjurer Wizardus at age 18, was the longest-serving member of the Magic Circle.[2]

Anckorn was born on 10 December 1918 in Dunton Green and educated at The Judd School in Tonbridge. At the age of eighteen, he became the youngest member of the Magic Circle.[3] During World War II, he served in the British Army, was captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore, and forced, as a prisoner of war, to work on the Burma Railway and the famous bridge on the River Kwai.[4]

He was interviewed about his war experiences.[5] He died of bladder cancer on 22 March 2018 aged 99.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Fergus Anckorn: The Conjuror on the Kwai". fepowhistory.com. 23 March 2018. Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  2. ↑ Jack Malvern (30 May 2016), "TV show's old soldier whose best trick was staying alive", The Times
  3. ↑ "Captive Memories", Far East Prisoner of War (FEPOW), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, 2007, archived from the original on 22 April 2016, retrieved 31 May 2016
  4. ↑ Torture, starvation and heartache: the life of a POW soldier, BBC, 13 November 2014
  5. ↑ "Fergus Anckorn talks about his time in a Japanese POW camp". YouTube.
  6. ↑ "Fergus Anckorn obituary". 6 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.


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