talkmagic.co.uk

Hey all,

Looking back to my magical roots this week, I spotted these little beauties on eBay:



Lordy - those bring back some childhood memories, agonising over which little effect to squander my pocket money on each week (can't, for the life of me remember how much these cost, on average).

Some years later, after the line folded, I was holidaying at Woolacombe Bay, and found a load of remaindered 'Velvet Range' PD tricks, and pretty much bought the lot (including a nice little set of metal linking rings).

Does anybody here have any memories of this range...or perhaps even still have some of the lovely little blighters lying around after all these years?

Needless to say, I won the lot pictured above - for £1.80 per effect, I suspect I've got a real bargain?

Wonder if I'll ever manage to complete the entire set? These seem pretty rare, nowadays...

Rob


ETA: Just relaised, my lovely brown Haunted Hank', that I've had for over 20 years is actually from the same range....and still works like new (although it came with a faded, circular patch, where the round cellophane window in the box was )

Hey Rob,
Can't remember theses as a child but I did own a Paul Daniels magic set (as did most of the people on this forum I presume).

I bought number 14-"Genie in the Bottle" a few years back on e-bay, if you don't have this one I would gladly donate it to help you complete your collection, the packet is a little worn but not too bad.

Ah, Saturday night, a glass of pop, packet of crisps and Paul Daniels.

I think I prefered it to the lager, kebab and night club.....mm maybe not.

Paul

I was at a boot sale and snapped up paul daniels the great blank card trick from 1982 the cards had not even been setup!

As a teen I bought some of these and loved them. I still have one (pencil through a sheet of perspex) and I might have a coin effect. I loved them at the time. And I am still a big fan of Paul Daniels.

I used to buy these from a little shop in Birkenhead when I visited my grandparents up as a kid. Lots of nostalgia

Lovely items, I collect these so if you ever have any to flog, give me a shout won't you (or anyone for that matter!)

I am trying to find one of the Velvet range - the Double Diddling Diamond Trick - PD's version of wrong/wrong again... if anyone can point me in the direction of one for sale?

Ahhhhh, memories! Managed to Google image search the book where it all began for me...must have been 10 years old and every Friday at school we had a book sale, usually ran by children in the top year, and I bought this with my pocket money...

http://www.magicianslibrary.co.uk/image ... ic/820.jpg

I remember there was a nice card trick in there that I can ALMOST remember, but the thing I remember most is going back every week with the same question

"Any magic books this week?"

Alfred Borden wrote:...the thing I remember most is going back every week with the same question

"Any magic books this week?"

CUPS jr.

I actually used to sell them along with the svengali decks. I never demonstrated them. I just had them on the table and let them sell themselves. However, it was a wonderful way of getting feedback on what the public thought of Paul Daniels who was at the height of his fame at the time. Even if people didn't buy the tricks I would hear dozens of comments all day about Paul Daniels. It was very revealing.

This is an approximation of how opinions were broken down. Not a scientific survey by any means but as close as dammit.

Kids invariably LOVED him! 95% of them anyway.
75% of women (approximate estimate) utterly hated him. With a passion too.
Men were somewhat evenly divided probably with a slight majority in favour of him. I would say 60% of men liked him and 40% didn't.

I have always been intrigued by a survey organised by the TV Times. The question was "who are the most ten liked TV personalities in the UK and who are the most disliked"
Paul was on both lists!

Interesting stuff, Mark.
Out of curiosity, which side did/do you come down on?

If I didn't know better I'd be tempted to think selling his tricks suggested approval, but I know you're far too shrewd to let something like that stand in the way of a product that could sell itself and boost your take.

Gagsy wrote:I am trying to find one of the Velvet range - the Double Diddling Diamond Trick - PD's version of wrong/wrong again... if anyone can point me in the direction of one for sale?

I did this on stage, aged 16, while doing an impression of Bruce Forsyth. He was doing Play Your Cards Right on TV then. I have no other excuses for this.

Good luck in your search.

Alfred - same here on the Paul Daniels Magic book. I even bought a copy on ebay recently because I've lost my own childhood copy somewhere.
I had the coin slide and coin penetration casket (or whatever it's called). The one with the plastic coin and rounded spikes. Blindingly obvious but fun. Also, rising card, svengali and stripper decks. I was pretty good at the rising card when I was eight.
My own kids have the Melissa and Doug wooden sets, which are great. They also badger me to do random magic every so often so I'm like their own personal magician. I'm not sure what the Paul Daniels equivalent for this generation is. A lot of magic on TV seems a bit 'adult' with gore, mentalism or 'street' themes - stuff that wold either scare them, or that they just wouldn't understand. Whereas the Paul Daniels Magic Show was more of a family, variety show. Not much for below teenage at the moment. I guess there's Stephen Mulhern and there was that "Sorceror's Apprentice" show a while back. Paul is still an utter legend though. I wish the BBC would re-issue those shows on DVD.

hedges wrote:I wish the BBC would re-issue those shows on DVD.

Over the past 6 or 7 years we've asked the BBC several times if they would seriously consider repeating those shows even if it means editing out some of the guests if there are copyright or repeat fee problems. Apart from a 'thank you for your message which will be passed on to the appropriate department...' we’ve heard nothing. Paul himself has asked about the possibility of DVDs but the cost to release each show ran into 5 figures so it’s not an economic prospect – some folks would say the cost is set deliberately high to kill the idea....

It'd probably get refused on the grounds it is to do with their creative output (because some utter moron decided to allow the BBC to refuse almost any request on those grounds) but we could chip in for a Freedom of Information request for how they've arrived at the price and any discussions/emails etc they've had about the show.
Could be interesting to see why they really have it priced so high.