A.On January 11, 1749, identical advertisements appeared in two London daily newspapers, which caused a sensation: “In the New Theater on Haymarket next Monday … a man will appear who … will show the audience an ordinary bottle of wine. Anyone who wishes can examine it. The bottle is placed on a table in the middle of the stage. Then the man will … step into her in full view of the audience and sing in her. During his stay in the vessel, everyone can pick it up and see with his own eyes that it is nothing more than a normal pub bottle. “
The news of the planned stunt spread in a flash. It was the talk of the town overnight. On the evening of the announced performance, the house on Haymarket was sold out. There was tense anticipation on the floor as well as in the tiers and boxes. She gave way to loud displeasure when, even after a long time, nothing happened on the stage. When a spokesman for the theater finally announced meekly that the entrance fees would be reimbursed “if the actor might not appear”, sheer aggression erupted. The box offices were stormed, the theater demolished. In the street, the torn-off stage curtain of the house was hoisted on a flagpole in the light of the flames from the burning theater stalls. The scandal was perfect.
The witty rascal
The London press – a huge machine as early as 1750 – turned over. Wild speculations about the person of the “Bottle Conjurer” made the rounds. The rumor quickly arose that a member of the English nobility had been the author of the lazy spell. It was nourished by a report according to which a “noble contributor” had discreetly taken over the damage to the theater. More than two decades later, it turned out that it was probably the Second Duke of Montague who invented the “Bottle Conjuror”. The Duke – who has since passed away – was considered a “serial practical joker”, a habitual “joker” who did not shy away from rough pranks. Apparently he had made a bet on the gullibility of his countrymen. The “English credulity” was proverbial in the middle of the eighteenth century. The duke won. In fact, the “Bottle Conjurer” has become a symbol of the British “hoax”, who oscillates between jokes and charlatanry – between simple owls and devious falsification of the truth.
In an original monograph, Ian Keable – Oxford graduate philosopher, political scientist and economist, former auditor and now (nota bene!) Magician – explores the phenomenon of the “hoax” in eighteenth-century England. On the basis of ten incidents, he has dissected the conditions under which false news arise, spread through modern media, gradually become independent, produce or ruin all kinds of experts, deal with justice and politics, divide the public and, for the minds behind the affairs, sometimes with the Fame of the witty rascal and sometimes end with ostracism in the social pillory, if not behind bars.
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