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'Paul Daniels' (born Newton Edward Daniels, 6 April 1938) is a British magician and television performer.^[1] He achieved national fame through his television series ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Awards

Political views

Family

Trivia

References

Bibliography

External links

Videoclips

Biography

Early life

Daniels was born at 51 North Street in South Bank, Middlesbrough, the son of Handel Newton Daniels and Nancy Lloyd. Handel Newton Daniels (known as Hugh) was a cinema projectionist at the Hippodrome Theatre and a former worker at ICI Wilton. Newton Edward Daniels' interest in magic began at the age of 12 when reading a book called ''How To Entertain At Parties'' while on holiday.^[2]
During the war he was evacuated to the Helmsley area. After Sir William Turners Grammar School on ''Coatham Road'' in Coatham, Redcar (now the Redcar & Cleveland College Connections Campus on ''Corporation Road'') and his first job as a junior clerk in the treasurer's office of Eston council, Daniels served in the 1st Battalion, The Green Howards during his National Service and was posted to the British garrison in Hong Kong, before training as an accountant in the Civil Service. Even at this early age he had a bald head which he claimed to be an act of 'Magic'. He had a few strands of hair but 'not a lot'. He left his job in local government to run a small, mobile grocery business. Daniels claimed in his autobiography to have had, as of the year 2000, sexual relations with more than 300 people.^[3] This figure includes a Chinese girl he met on a Hong Kong ferry during his National Service, whom he recalls as being "rather throaty".^[4]

Career

Early in his magic career, Daniels performed a manipulation act with his first wife Jackie under the name of 'The Eldanis', an anagram of Daniels. Daniels made his television debut on ''Opportunity Knocks'' in 1970, and came second. Television producer Johnnie Hamp later gave Daniels a regular spot on ''The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club'' for Granada Television.
Daniels starred in his own stage show, ''It's Magic'', at the Prince of Wales Theatre from 10th December 1980 until 6th February 1982. At that time, the show was one of the longest-running magic shows ever staged in London.
Daniels presented his own television show, ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', on the BBC from 1979 until 1994. As well as featuring tricks and illusions for pure entertainment, he also included a regular segment (the 'Bunco Booth') in which he exposed the confidence tricks of street charlatans and he also replicated the kind of results that have impressed researchers of the paranormal and parapsychologists, thereby demonstrating his skepticism about claims made in these fields.
He also hosted other television shows during the 1980s and 1990s, such as the quiz shows ''Odd One Out'', ''Every Second Counts'' and ''Wipeout'', and the BBC children's television programme ''Wizbit'', about a magician called Wizbit and a rabbit called Woolly, who lived in Puzzleopolis.
Daniels' appeal diminished as the 1980s drew to a close, and in the 1990s, ratings slumped. He attempted a relaunch with a new BBC magic show called ''Secrets'', with a variety club setting, but it did not catch on and was short lived. He is now seldom seen on television. He does, however, make occasional guest appearances, though this has often been as the unsuspecting butt of the joke on satirical comedy shows, such as the Chris Morris show, ''Brass Eye''. He appeared on ''Da Ali G Show'' in an Ali G costume and was interviewed by Caroline Hook in her guise as Mrs Merton. In 2004, he and Debbie appeared in the Channel 5 reality TV show, ''The Farm'', and in 2006, they appeared in the ITV1 show ''The X Factor: Battle Of The Stars''. They were the first act voted off the show, after singing ''Let Me Entertain You'' by Robbie Williams. Daniels and McGee made a guest appearance in the Wife Swap series in early 2007, with McGee changing places with journalist and presenter Vanessa Feltz. Daniels is due to make a guest appearance in the new series of Jim'll Fix It.
Despite the end of his television show, Daniels still tours doing live magic and recently presented a show about magician 'Max Malini'. On 28th November 2006, Daniels presented a magic show at the Eton College Magic Society to about 500 Etonians.
Daniels maintains a website including a blog and personal information, and records podcasts and video podcasts.

Awards

Daniels was awarded the prestigious "Magician of the Year’" Award by the Hollywood Academy of Magical Arts in 1983, and was the first magician from outside the US to receive it. An easter special of ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'' won the Golden Rose of Montreux Award at the International TV Festival in Switzerland in 1985.

Political views

Daniels is known for his conservative views on a range of matters. On the subject of criminal justice, he has stated: "...make them afraid of the punishment...when I heard Ian Huntley had tried to commit suicide – I’d have helped him. There are no ifs or buts about Huntley. With him, I wouldn’t even have told him the result of the trial, he'd just have gone to sleep and never woken up".^[5]
Daniels has stated that he has very little sympathy with the homeless since, in his words, "I was always trying to be best, to get ahead of the other guy. And I can't say why, I just knew I could...I saw Peter Stringfellow on TV one time, and we both have a little, but not very much, sympathy for the homeless, because both of us came from very poor backgrounds, got off our arses, and grafted".
In the 1980s, Daniels made controversial remarks about the city of Liverpool, stating that he believed the city to be populated by "lazy, workshy doleites" who should "get off their backsides and find work". At the time, Liverpool had high unemployment and very high levels of poverty and social hardship after a lengthy period of industrial and economic decline.

Family

He has three sons by his first wife, Jacqui Skipworth: Gary, Paul and Martin. Martin sometimes appeared on ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', and Paul's own father, Hughie, often made props for the show, such as wooden boxes for the Selbit Sawing illusion. His nephew James Phelan is a budding young magician.
Daniels married his second wife, long-time assistant Debbie McGee on April 2nd 1988, after meeting her in Great Yarmouth in 1979 when she was twenty, after which she became his assistant. They live in a Thameside mansion.

Trivia

★ His catchphrase was "You'll like this; not a lot, but you'll like it."

★ Daniels is of strikingly small stature, at only 5'5" tall.

★ Unbeknownst to TV audiences, Daniels sported a wig for the majority of his television career.^[6]

★ He was humiliated by Chris Morris in the 1997 media spoof TV series, ''Brass Eye'', in a segment where he was persuaded to appeal to viewers to help a fictional East German elephant that had got its trunk stuck up its anus.

★ He is dismissive of modern illusionists. He has described David Blaine as "not very original".

★ He has stated he has an ambition to star in a Hollywood movie.

★ In one of the sketches in Rowan Atkinson's one-man show, the story of Jesus is read by Atkinson, dressed as a priest. In the sketch, Jesus is portrayed as a magician. In the end of the sketch, when Jesus is asked whether he is the son of God, he denies it, and claims the true Lord will be recognised by his name: "By his name shall yee know him. And he shall have a very religious name. Paul, shall he be called. And Daniel, shall he be called."

★ Daniels has often remarked that for his final trick he would like to "disappear the Sun".

★ His personalised registration plate reads 'MAG1C'.

★ He has the unique distinction of being the only person who has been put in, taken out & been the guest on Room 101.

★ Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee are the butt of a series of running jokes on the 6 episode series "The Unpleasant World of Penn and Teller," which competed with the Paul Daniels show during its short run.

References

1. Scotland the Brave
2. How Paul got into showbusiness
3.
4. Reader review of ''Under No Illusion''
5. Paul Daniels takes his show online
6. Setting the Record Straight

He currently owns a Magic/Fancy Dress Shop in Wigan Town Centre.

Bibliography

★ Paul Daniels, ''Under No Illusion'', Blake Publishing (May 2000), ISBN 1857823141

External links

★ Paul Daniels' National Service

★ Paul Daniels' homepage

★ Paul Daniels' weblog

★ ''Paul Daniels' Ebay Transactions'' a blog about Paul Daniels' buying and selling activities on Ebay

★ Paul Daniels takes his show online - interview on telegraph.co.uk

★ Bio

Videoclips

★ Chimpanzee card trick

★ Talking about his appearance on Brass Eye

★ Advertising Heineken

★ Let Me Entertain You - Celebrity X Factor 2006