Born in England during WW11, I have been hooked on gizmos since the age of eleven. In the 1950’s — a boarding school matron showed me a mail order catalogue crammed wit ...read more

Born in England during WW11, I have been hooked on gizmos since the age of eleven. In the 1950’s — a boarding school matron showed me a mail order catalogue crammed with novelties — a wind-up clockwork mouse, a bent nail puzzle, a squirting coat button, a magic card trick, optical illusions… and the rest! The American equivalent is the Johnson Smith Company Mail order (“Things You Never Knew Existed… And Can’t possibly Live Without!”).

In adult life I have pursued mechanical toys and puzzles, and branched out into science and educational toys. There are twenty thousand toys in the collection and I used them to entertain children and adults at parties for forty years. They are now used to entertain and inform a wide audience through an internet web site, grand–illusions.com.

Videos

Tim Rowett, Gizmologist (EG8)

Register for EG 2020.

30 April - 2 May 2020

Our team has been working hard behind the scenes to bring you a superb program for EG2020. However, in light of growing and legitimate concerns regarding the rapid spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) which have gutted international events of all sizes, we have made the difficult decision to put EG on hiatus until it is once again deemed safe.


We know how much each of you look forward to EG and we were looking forward to seeing old friends, and welcoming many new ones, but we do need to prioritize the health and safety of our attendees, presenters, and partners, especially those traveling from afar.

We will be in touch in due course with future plans.