Gogia pasha biography of barack

I came to India after completing school. I later studied South Asian history and Hindi. I came back as a foreign correspondent and was studying the country’s culture, politics, society, which led me to write. A chance remark at a dinner party about an Australian magician, dressed up as a Chinaman, who performed in Australia in the early 1900s, got me intrigued. Research showed that he, Chung Ling Soo, was actually an American. His main rival, Ching Ling Foo, was a real Chinese magician, but the American was so good at pretending, that everybody thought that the real Chinese magician was the fake one. I was fascinated with this cross-cultural confluence of performance magic. I came across various extraordinary characters — The Fakir of Oolu, The Fakir of Shiva, The Fakir of Simla, none of whom were Indians but appropriated Indian magic in their shows. The history of Indian magic, I realised, has never been explored fully. It was my s

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On the evening of 14 May 1940, four days after Germany invaded France and the Low Countries, newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, gave a speech on the B.B.C. Home Service:

“Since the war began, the government have received countless enquiries from all over the kingdom from men of all ages who are for one reason or another not at present engaged in military service, and who wish to do something for the defence of their country. Well, now is your opportunity. We want large numbers of such men in Great Britain, who are British subjects, between the ages of seventeen and sixty-five…to come forward and offer their services…The name of the new force which is now to be raised will be ‘The Local Defence Volunteers'".

And so, the L.D.V. (later renamed the 'Home Guard' by Winston Churchill) was formed. Within 24 hours, a quarter of a million men signed up. 

Home Guard armband

(Source: Imperial War Museum)

The L.D.V. – or

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Magic at War

Entertaining Hitler: Gogia Pasha, the gilly-gilly man (and war worker)

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Gogia Pasha (1910-1976) fooled the world by pretending to be an Egyptian for most of his career. In fact, he was born Danpat Rai Gogia in British India. 

Gogia originally trained as a doctor and had studied medicine in Cairo and Edinburgh. But, he abandoned medicine to turn to the scen. Donning a turban and a set of brightly coloured robes, Gogia adopted the persona of a 'gilly-gilly' (or ‘gali-gali’) man, after the Egyptian slang for magic. 

He became an established act, touring internationally with a large troupe, mostly his family; and even appearing in several movies.

According to historian John Zubrzycki: “Gogia’s shows combined comedy, comment and humorous patter with tricks, and incorporated dancers between sets. His signature acts included cups and balls, producing live chick