Terri Rogers

Terri Rogers, born Ivan Southgate (4 May 1937 – 30 May 1999) was a transsexual English ventriloquist and magician.

Terri Rogers
Born
Ivan Southgate

(1937-05-04)May 4, 1937
Ipswich, England
DiedMay 30, 1999(1999-05-30) (aged 62)
London, England
NationalityEnglish
OccupationVentriloquist, magician
Partner(s)Val Andrews

Rogers was born in Ipswich and was a somewhat isolated youth but determined to build a career in variety. Rogers developed a technically highly proficient ventriloquism act with her ventriloquist figure Shorty Harris, first of all appearing as a supporting act in music hall in the 1950s. Like her contemporary fellow ventriloquist Bobbie Kimber, she began life as a man but underwent gender reassignment surgery on the National Health Service in the early 1960s. This brought her some short-lived notoriety but did not hamper her career. Rogers won acclaim for her appearance in the 1968 review Boys Will be Girls at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and went on to become a highly regarded performer on the UK cabaret circuit. She was the only variety act ever to appear at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. From 1974 onwards she was a regular, though somewhat incongruous, guest on TV on The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club. She also appeared on BBC TV's long running Music Hall variety show, The Good Old Days. Her cabaret career eventually extended internationally including appearances at Las Vegas and The Magic Castle in Hollywood, and on United States TV.

Her work as a magician was always something of a sideline but she was an ingenious developer of magic tricks including illusions for David Copperfield and Paul Daniels. She was an expert on "topology", the art of creating illusions with shapes, and wrote three standard texts on the subject. She was particularly known for illusions with Borromean Rings.

Rogers died in London after a series of strokes. She was survived by her life partner Val Andrews, also a magician.

Publications

Rogers published a number of magic effects and books, predominantly through specialist magic publisher Martin Breese. These include:

  • The Little Book of Ventriloquism (c.1948)
  • Terri Rogers' Star Gate (1985)
  • Boromian Link (1986)
  • Wipe Out (1986)
  • Word of Mind (1986)
  • Secrets (1986)
  • More Secrets (1988)
  • Top Secrets (1998)

In addition to these books, Rogers sold several manufactured tricks, including The Key and BlockBuster.

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References
  • "Terri Rogers: Obituary". The Times. 4 June 1999. p. 25.
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