7. Master the media
The best stories make the best history. Derren Brown reveals how Houdini mastered the media, weaponised controversy, and engineered his own legendary myth through brilliant PR
“It was the making of Houdini”. That’s how one magician described Houdini’s dramatic “Mirror Handcuff escape”.
In London’s Hippodrome, in 1904, Houdini wowed the 4000 gripped audience members as he broke free from handcuffs designed by the Daily Illustrated Mirror to be impossible to escape. The resulting international media coverage was seismic for Houdini’s career.
But was it a masterful escape? Or a brilliantly conceived piece of mutually beneficial publicity?
Derren Brown explores how Houdini became the ultimate master in media manipulation. And how his ability to self-mythologise in the media suggests there was something fishy going on in the Hippodrome that day.
Far from being a let-down, however, Derren argues Houdini’s weaponisation of the media is a sign of his genius. His invented near-death river escapes demonstrate a canny ability to spin in a very modern way.
His understanding of the media then helped to secure Houdini’s name as a pioneer aviator!
Presenter: Derren Brown
Writer/Producer: Calum McCrae
Additional research: Alice Homewood
Sound designer: David Crackles
Executive producer: Sophie Ellis
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke
A Strawberry Blond production for BBC Sounds and Radio 4
Podcast
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The History Podcast
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