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To me, he is to magic what Ken Dodd is to comedy.
A proper entertainer of the kind we rarely see these days.

I have always enjoyed his performances and his patter and can't understand why some people look down on him or deride him.
He's a master of his craft and I have always found him to come across as confident and likeable.

I recently saw Paul at my student union, where he was performing as part of a tour of UK universities. We were lucky enough to chat with him for a bit afterwards (and got a photograph of the university magic society with him and Debbie) where he spoke of a few things.

From what you've said, Mandrake, it seems that we saw the same show: I recall some of the routines from the original television performances I've managed to see. We're still stumped by the Electric Chairs.

However, he did say why he prefers to do small shows in towns and villages to big cities. This is the first season of him performing at universities, and I believe he found them to his liking.

Paul said that he finds it easy to gain the same amount of profit from performing at a smaller venue, since the advertising costs do not need to be anywhere near as large as for a big show. And it's also generally nicer to have a smaller audience, as it seems more personal. It also means he can sign more things! I now have an ace of diamonds signed by both Debbie and himself.

He's certainly bringing his magic to the people - and darned good magic it is! Actually it's more than that, it's entertainment - magic, comedy, bafflement, sometimes rather non-PC comments (hooray for that!!) but in the best possible taste etc. The almost unreachable TV icon of the 1980's now shows himself to be a very real and human entertainer. If I ever get rich and famous I'll try and do the same !

The thing I found the most interesting was that the first half of the show was a question and answer session, although he interjected magical effects throughout this - this was an idea I'd not seen before, and I thought it was quite refreshing in a magic show.

We were lucky enough to get an 'encore' effect, because Debbie was with him: so we saw her perform a book test!

Lucky you, I've seen Paul's cabaret act three times now and Debbie wasn't involved - although she was 'backstage' at two of them. Oh well, it may happen one day soon......

Never met him and not sure I would feel right meeting a boyhood idol but he learnt his craft in some tough clubs on the way up which has given him the charisma and technique to hold the biggest of crowds.

And to remember that he was doing a weekly show learning half a dozen new tricks for everyone is just a monumental task that no one these days is really taking on.

I know he has become a figure of fun recently but that is just the media's desire to lash out at the successful and talented. I for one thank him, Debbie, John Fisher, Ali Bongo and everyone who worked on the Paul Daniels Magic Show for opening my eyes, making me laugh and astounding me in equal measures.

Paul Daniels didn't stand a chance at the BBC. Culturally, magic was too working class. Shows deemed embarassingly working class (Keith Harris and Orvill, Darts) were dropped dispite high ratings. Politically, as a right wing conservative (and not afraid to share his views, or two willing to share, depending on how you look at it) Daniels didn't fit with the BBCs mildly left-wing agenda.

does anyone have a video of his chop cup routne

I remember seeing a repeat on Granada PLus (when it was still going) of a very early appearance of his on The Wheeltappers & Shunters Club.
He was superb and did a lot of card effects, going into the audience and was a real pro in dealing with people and controlling the participant.

I have had dinner with him and found him to be very friendly and down to earth. When I first met him years ago I was astonished to find that he knew exactly who I was. I have done some business with him indirectly since I once sold magic tricks in a museum he had in Blackpool. I spoke to him about it and he referred me to his manager who made the arrangements.

I have also sold his Dubreq range of tricks all over the country and found it a fascinating piece of market research of how the public related to him at the height of his fame. Kids loved him, women hated him and men were evenly split about his talents. When I say that women hated him that was the reaction I got from approximately 80% of all the women although some of them would buy his tricks for their kids.

I was quite disappointed to see the video of him performing at the Edinburgh Festival and I heard that the Malini video he did was even worse. It wasn't the Paul Daniels I knew who in his day was quite something to behold when he worked live on stage. Very difficult to beat. And I saw him 3 times when he was in his prime. Twice in Blackpool and once in Dublin.

I note that people here say how good he is even recently. I wish they had seen him in his prime. HOwever even then you either hated him or you loved him. There was a survey done for TV viewers once. The question asked was "who is among the 10 most liked TV personalities" and "who is the most disliked?"

Paul was on both lists.

There has got to be a market for some of the material he featured on his BBC shows, it certainly introduced me to many tricks and other acts which stay fresh in my memory to this date.

The show as a whole brought to a wider audience many people who we would never have seen otherwise.

Particular memories for me are Meir Yedid and Hans Moretti and as for Paul himself I would love to be able to watch his pulling a rabbit from the hat routine.

So if anyone from the BBC is reading and needs help putting together a collection of the greatest hits I would love to volunteer!

I'm sure that Paul Daniels and Ali Bongo each have their own list of favourites from the Paul Daniels Magic Shows. And it wouldn't take long for them to put together a nice comilation DVD set.

It's all up to Auntie Beeb as to whether such a thing sees the light of day. Remember how long it took for any Goodies DVDs to appear on the market? As far as I know, Mssrs Garden, Taylor and Oddie had to buy the episodes from the BBC before they could get released!

pcwells wrote:It's all up to Auntie Beeb as to whether such a thing sees the light of day. Remember how long it took for any Goodies DVDs to appear on the market? As far as I know, Mssrs Garden, Taylor and Oddie had to buy the episodes from the BBC before they could get released!

Don't start me off about that! You can get every series of some damn-awful programmes on DVD, but a grand total of 16 episodes of the Goodies are available on DVD, plus 'Scatty Safari' on the VHS tapes. They did about ten series in total.

I think the Beeb has it in for certain celebrities, like Paul.

As was mentioned elsewhere, the Beeb aren't making it easy to obtain those tapes. Figures of £10,000 each are being mentioned thus effectively ensuring they aren't going to be released unless some generous soul with loadsa dosh comes along.

if ever i win the lottery (bearing in mind i'd have to start doing it) the BBC is in for one hell of a beating...

all the magic and music they have in their archives...

makes me sick, public money afterall...