1. Robert Harbin is noted as the inventor of a number of classic illusions, including the Zig Zag Girl.
10 Facts About Robert Harbin
1. 2.
Robert Harbin began performing in music halls under the title "Ned Williams, the Boy Magician from South Africa".
3.
Robert Harbin was the first British illusionist to move from stage performing to television, appearing in the BBC TV show Variety in 1937 and numerous times after the war when the BBC resumed broadcasting.
4.
Robert Harbin developed a number of new tricks, including the Neon Light and the now ubiquitous Zig Zag Girl.
5.
Robert Harbin's lesser known inventions include the Aztec Lady, The Blades of Opah, and Aunt Matilda's Wardrobe.
6.
However, although Harbin was brilliantly creative in the field of magic he was not a particularly good writer and his friend and associate Eric C Lewis has stated that many of Harbin's titles were ghost written for him.
7.
In 1953 Robert Harbin appeared in a minor part as a magician in the film The Limping Man, produced by Cy Endfield.
8.
Robert Harbin wrote many books on the subject, beginning with Paper Magic in 1956, and was the first President of the British Origami Society.
9.
Robert Harbin was the first Westerner to use the word origami for this art-form.
10.
Robert Harbin presented a series of origami programmes for ITV in its "Look-In" magazines for children in the 1970s.