EMMA DUNN catches up with magician Paul Daniels

“WELL, that’s not my fault,” magical legend Paul Daniels replied when I told him I was calling from the Swindon Advertiser.

He said it in true Paul Daniels comedy style, completely dead-pan, and when I asked him what he’s got in store for his performance at the Wyvern Theatre on September 24, the laughs continued.

“It’s very funny, it’s very good. It’s everything from big illusions to mind reading. Thank you very much, is that it?” he said with a giggle.

Paul and ‘the lovely’ Debbie McGee will be at the Wyvern Theatre as part of their Back Despite Popular Demand tour – so called by Paul himself.

“It was a toss-up between that or Debbie McGee’s Shoe Fund,” he said.

The show follows last year’s tour, The First Farewell Tour, which saw the magician performing new material.

“It was a completely new show and I got complaints because I left out two tricks. This is going to sound barmy but I’m known in my trade for two effects and of course I didn’t do them,” said the 76-year-old.

“This time I’m doing those two and then the rest is all new – they’ve never been seen before.

“I mentioned mind reading earlier – one starts out as if it’s a card trick but then you touch a card and Debbie can name it from the other side of the room. I don’t say anything.

“We performed it in Finland in the presence of two of the top card men in the world. They looked at each other and said ‘we don’t understand’. It’s baffled a lot of magicians,” he said.

The show includes three routines from Debbie. Sadly though, Debbie’s father is seriously ill. Paul is hoping she will be able to make the performance, but the magician will be able to perform her routines should she not be able to make it.

The couple were invited to join this year’s Celebrity Big Brother House but declined, partly due to Debbie’s dad’s condition.

Paul found fame in 1970 when he was spotted by a TV producer. He was soon hosting his own show, The Paul Daniels Show, with his future wife Debbie McGee for 15 years.

He became a magical star and hosted a number of other television series from Odd One Out, Every Second Counts, Wipeout, and the ever popular and fondly remembered Wizbit, all for the BBC.

“Performing magic on television is very different because I have a lot more to think about. Magic is a lot about angles and timing. When I did television shows I would never allow them to edit the shows to make the magic happen and I never used stooges,” he said.

“I was working as live as I could get it to be and I think the audience knew that. That’s why we got 15 million viewers. I liked doing TV but not so much now because it doesn’t take the care it used to. It’s a factory now ‘sit down there, you’ve got 20 seconds to do a trick’,” he said.

It’s the variety of his job that Paul loves, with performances at theatres, private parties and after dinner shows.

“I like making people react. I like getting that gasp and I like getting that applause,” he said.

“Although it’s nice for me, it’s because of what I have given them. I’m a giver not a taker. I don’t really like getting presents.”

 Back Despite Popular Demand will be at the Wyvern Theatre at 7.30pm on September 24.

For tickets, which are £19, call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.