Alan Alan (born Alan Rabinowitz, 30 November 1926[1][2] – 4 July 2014) was a British escapologist and magician.[3] He originated tricks that have subsequently become familiar features of the repertoire of other performers and he was honoured by The Magic Circle.[4]
Alan achieved fame through a series of stunts staged for the media. He made headline news in 1949 when a "buried alive" stunt, performed for Pathe News, nearly went wrong.[4] He is credited with devising the burning-rope straitjacket escape,[5] in which he is suspended upside-down from a crane with a length of thick rope doused with petrol; once ignited there is a short time to escape before the rope burns through.
He appeared in a number of television magic shows, including The Magic of David Copperfield.[6] He also "taught" the inmates of Wormwood Scrubs prison how to escape from handcuffs in his performance with a number of other magicians.[7] In more recent years he was seen on the Channel 4 TV show The Secret Cabaret with Simon Drake.
He was proprietor of Alan Alan's Magic Spot, a magic shop based on Southampton Row, London until its lease expired in the mid-1990s.
Alan's standing and influence in the world of magic was formally recognised in 2006 when The Magic Circle chose him to receive the coveted Maskelyne Award for services to British magic.[4] He died on 4 July 2014, aged 87.[8]
