The Amazing Chang: Leamington’s famous magician

It may seem a cliché to say that history is everywhere waiting to be discovered; but one lady from Leamington Spa, retired professional vocalist/musician Sandra Evans, experienced this phenomenon first-hand when she discovered that a famous magician had previously owned her property, a former coach house in St. Mary’s Road, Leamington Spa for a period of seventy years.

By June 2002, she had already resided there for some twenty years prior to unearthing its magical secret.

During my tour of her house she commented, “The kitchen as it stands today was his workshop where he invented his illusions. Our lounge once had an array of multi-coloured caged birds that he specially trained to visually enhance his magical stage performance and bring mystical wonder to a worldwide audience. He also stored all his gorgeous stage Chinese silk costumes, his most secret illusionary inventions and an enormous Chinese dragon in what are now our bedrooms.”

The man in question is Samuel Whittington-Wickes, born on December 26, 1893 on Leamington’s Avenue Road. He is better known by his stage-name, “The Amazing Chang”.

It was only upon the completion of her mortgage that Sandra found out about her home’s former resident, as it was then that she read the Victorian deeds to her property. She decided to research the names of the former residents in the local archives and made the incredible discovery. She began more research into Chang, and after four years of tenacious work self-published a biography of the man on 6th October 2006, to commemorate the 36th anniversary of his death.

“I took a real chance,” says Sandra. “I was a novice author and given that my forty-year career had been in the music industry, I knew nothing about magic. Nonetheless I was determined to uncover every aspect of this fascinating story and provide the finance myself. Realistically I could have put myself in serious hock if the publication had gone belly-up, but thankfully much to my delight, the book sold worldwide.”

Turning his back on the family timber business, Chang’s magic career began at the age of 12, when he ran away to London to follow his dream.

“He auditioned in theatres in a slot known as the ‘Wines and Spirits’,” says Sandra. “The well-known acts always received the prime time slots, but everybody retired to the bar during the interval, the unknown artists were given their moment of glory, hence the reference ‘Wines and Spirits’.

“He spent quite a few days trudging around all the primary Moss & Stoll Empire theatres in the capital to no avail. Inconsolably despondent he decided to utilise his train fare home on a good lunch and then give it one last try. His sheer determination finally paid off when his act was accepted and contracted by the Empire Theatre on Edgware Road.”

Chang’s career was abruptly halted by the onset of World War I. He volunteered to join the Warwickshire Regiment during which time he was on the terrifying receiving end of numerous mustard gas attacks by opposing forces in the trenches of Northern France.

Severe damage to his lungs ensued, causing him inability to speak without frequent coughing fits. Bravely he turned his disability to his advantage and adopted the persona under which he achieved his greatest fame – “The Amazing Chang”. An opportunity conveniently arose for Chang to impersonate a Chinaman, thus he could perform his entire act in mysterious silence.

“Chinese magic was very popular,” says Roy Davenport, fourth-generation grandson of world-renowned Lewis Davenport and professional magician from the famed Davenport family that runs Davenports Magic Shop in London and Tam Shepherd’s Trick Shop in Glasgow. “The only experience people had of China was in theatres. So with a lack of genuine Chinese magicians, you had Europeans dressing up in Chinese costume. The act would go down well because it was something different.”

During his years of fame, Chang travelled the world with his act. Perhaps his most beloved appearance, however, was a show in which he performed the ‘Bullet Catch’ in the role of ‘Chang’,

the main character of the legendary romantic story of the ‘Willow Pattern Plate’. It was showcased in Jephson Gardens Pavilion in his native Leamington Spa on numerous occasions between 1934- 1945, where he is reputed to have attracted a crowd of several thousand.

On 17 October 2009, an exhibition on Chang opened at the Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum. Vicki Slade, Senior Curatorial Officer, said: “It all started back in 2007 when Sandra Evans, who wrote Chang’s biography, contacted me along with professional muralist Lynsey Cleaver and local magic historian and retired magician David Budd MIMC (Member of the Inner Magic Circle) to ask if we’d be interested in putting on an exhibition about The Amazing Chang.

I’d never heard of him before, but I met with them and they told me all about him. He seemed like a really interesting character to have come from Leamington, so we decided to go ahead with the exhibition.”

Then began the difficult task of acquiring exhibits for the exhibition. Chang memorabilia was spread throughout the world amongst various collectors. After putting out press releases to the local media and the Internet, Sandra was contacted by Roy Davenport MIMC, current owner of a vast collection of Chang memorabilia.

“We went to Norwich where he lives,” said Vicki, “and in his barn he proudly showed us all his Chang collection. It was really exciting for us. There were loads of things there. There was an enormous butterfly made of silk, there were his Punch and Judy puppets, there was his ‘Willow-Pattern Plate’ illusion which he was famous for, costumes that he wore – it was a real treasure trove.”

The exhibition was successful, attracted over 20,000 visitors and won 2010 Renaissance West Midlands Best Exhibition on a Small Budget award. “It was not only appreciated by the visitors but by our peers and others in the museum world as well,” said Vicki.

When asked how significant she thought Chang’s contribution to the history of Leamington was, she replied: “Chang was obviously an important personality in the history of the town. The town was and always has been a leisure and tourist attraction, because of the spa and its origins – its growth in the 19th century. Chang, I feel, really continues this tradition of Leamington being a place for pleasure and amusement…It inspires you when you see the type of people who have come from your home town and what they’ve achieved.”

The story of Chang is on going, as more and more information about his fascinating life comes to light. “It’s a labour of love,” says Sandra. “Ten years hence, I’ll possibly never retrieve the time or money I spent on it, but it was hugely exciting, rather like writing a book but being in it as well, because every day there was and still is something new unfolding.”

Sandra is keen to stress how we can learn from the experience of people like Chang, in comparison to our current transient celebrity culture.

“In those days the shallowness of X-factor, Hello magazine or Big Brother featuring here today, gone tomorrow pretentious ‘wannabies’ was non- existent. These were show people that had to prove to the public they were the best. Their career was a serious responsibility; they had a family to support and if their act didn’t meet audience expectation, then best do something about it quick or their wages would not be forthcoming. Their rules were, ‘Failure to prepare is preparation to fail’”

She encourages anyone with an interest in local history, theatre, performing arts or his or her community: “Do your own research, be prepared for pitfalls, never give up, don’t publish anything you cannot prove and just follow your dream with a passion, Visit the reference library and ask all the questions – that’s what I did.”

‘The Biography of the Amazing Chang’ by Sandra Evans is out now, priced £12.99.