Lionel SnellLionel Snell is a contemporary English magician, publisher and author on magic and philosophy. Since 1972 he has written and published several books noted for their impact on late 20th-century magic and humour. Under the pen name Ramsey Dukes he has popular YouTube channel of short videos on magic-related topics. He was brought up in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds and won a series of scholarships, plus government grants, that took him to Clifton College, Bristol, then Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated as a pure mathematician, then took a Diploma in Education before teaching mathematics at Eton College, a Waldorf school and a further education college. While at Cambridge he studied rare works of Aleister Crowley and other occult writers in the University library and worked with a number of Crowley's ex-disciples. His books on magic and virtual reality have won him an enthusiastic and faithful readership among a wide circle of alternative groups, notably fans of avant-guard rock music and graphic novels. His writing is recognised as being significantly different from most radical occult thinking, which tends to either glamourize or demonize magic. In addition to long experience with radical alternative cultures, the author has for many years worked freelance as ghost writer for ICT companies and organizations, churning out press releases, video scripts, booklets and educational articles. Read More Read Less