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Level 5 Unit 4 Reading

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    Harry Houdini
  •   Study   Slideshow
  • What changes did he make to his name?
    He was born Erik Weisz and adopted the name of a famous French magician, Robert-Houdini, as his stage name.
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  • What was problematic about his father?
    His father killed a prince in a duel in Budapest.
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  • Who was a formative influence on him in his youth?
    The French magician, Robert-Houdini, became a major influence when Houdini read his biography as a teenager.
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  • What brought career success after a difficult start?
    When he made escapology the focus of his act, his career began to take off.
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  • How good a sportsman was he?
    He was an avid amateur athlete, boxer, swimmer, and cyclist.
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  • Why did he take an interest in mediums? Did he believe in them?
    He took an interest mediums after the death of his mother.
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  • Was he ever deceived by people faking supernatural phenomena?
    He was skeptical about the supernatural and spent much of his life exposing the tricks that so-called mediums used.
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  • When did he die? What were his last words?
    He died on 31 October 1926. His last words were, "I'm tired of fighting".
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  • What attempts were made to communicate with him after his death?
    Houdini's wife held seances for ten years, trying to get him to communicate from beyond the grave.
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