John Nevil Maskelyne

John Nevil Maskelyne was a stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet. In the 19th century Maskelyne invented a lock for London toilets which required a penny to operate hence the euphemism "spend a penny".

.He was born in Cheltenham on 22 December 1839 and died in 1917 and was a descendant of Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal.Maskelyne was also a member of the magic circle and, like Harry Houdini, tried to dispell the notion of supernatural powers. To this end in 1914 Maskelyne founded the Occult Committee whose remit was to "investigate claims to supernatural power and to expose fraud". In particular the committee attempted to prove that the Indian Rope Trick has never been performed..

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