1. Find your motivation
Derren Brown explores how a runaway immigrant named Eric Weisz first found the motivation to morph into the ultimate showman, Harry Houdini
One hundred years after his death, how did an ordinary immigrant child transform himself into the most famous magician in history?
In episode one of How Houdini Made Magic, psychological illusionist Derren Brown traces the early life of Eric Weisz.
In 1878, Eric鈥檚 family voyaged from Budapest to the American promised land of Appleton, Wisconsin. What awaited him was the unforgiving Gilded Age America. But Eric turned hardship and personal tragedy into a motivation that would become the driving force of his life: to keep his ageing mother comfortable.
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 麻豆社 Sounds and Radio 4
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The History Podcast
Derren Brown unlocks the extraordinary world of illusionist Harry Houdini.
