John Nevil Maskelyne, known professionally as Nevil Maskelyne (1863–1924), was a British magician and inventor. Biography Maskelyne was born in 1863 Cheltenham (bapt 22 July 1863) to stage magician John Nevil Maskelyne (1839-1917) and his wife Elizabeth née Taylor (1840-1911). Following his father's death he assumed control of Maskelyne's Ltd. In wireless telegraphy he was the manager of Anglo-American Telegraph Company which controlled the Valdemar Poulsen patents. He was a public detractor of Guglielmo Marconi in the early days of radio (wireless). In 1903 he hacked into Marconi's demonstration of wireless telegraphy, and broadcast his own message, hoping to make Marconi's claims of "secure and private communication" appear foolish. Works Maskelyne wrote several books on magic, including Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic (with David Devant) and On the Performance of Magic. Family and death Maskelyne married Ada Mary Ardley (1863–1918) on 9 July 1888 at St Mary's Church, Battersea, London. They had three sons and a daughter: John Nevil (known as Jack), who was to become a noted author on railway matters and editor of Model Railway News in the early 20th century (J.N. Maskelyne) Noel Jasper (1902–73), who continued the family tradition of professional magic. Mary He died in Marylebone on 22 September 1924. References External links Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic 1863 births 1924 deaths British inventors British magicians British sceptics Radio pioneers Amateur radio people People from Cheltenham