It’s certainly been an attritional year so far.

and Cliff Mitchelmore yesterday.

FFS.

Who let George RR Martin script 2016?

Sad loss.

I liked Paul Daniels – a big part of my Saturday evening when I was growing up in the 70s/80s.

There is no one coming through to replace these characters, force of personality in the media is there?

Recently types seem to be vanila, mild. They don’t have multi talents or seemingly character of all the old music hall/northern clubs etc graduates.

a big part of my Saturday evening when I was growing up in the 70s/80s

Same here…and now I have the theme to Wizbit stuck in my head for the rest of the day too.

Who let George RR Martin script 2016?

<applauds>

a big part of my Saturday evening when I was growing up in the 70s/80s

Probably was for all of us around a certain age. He made me want to be a magician as a kid, and whilst I never had the dedication (or ability) to be any good myself I learned an amount of magic theory on the back of it. Watching magicians these days I probably get more of a kick out of trying to work out how it’s done than I would just sitting there in amazement.

I think the cup & balls routine was his finest moment. I’ll see if I can find it.

now I have the theme to Wizbit stuck in my head for the rest of the day too.

Thanks for that, now we all have.

Paul Daniels’ Chop Cup.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io-Bby3iWVs[/video]

A master at work.

I met him at a magic convention in London when I was about 10, which was about the time of the peak of his career IIRC.

I’m not sure it’s a lack of talent coming through more an insatiable desire for novelty that means we won’t see the like of those currently exiting stage left in the future. It seems to be something that effects almost everything, a constant need for change and the next new thing. Yes I’m middle aged so maybe it’s just me but I’m not judging it, it’s just an observation

a big part of my Saturday evening when I was growing up in the 70s/80s
Same here…

and now I have the theme to Wizbit stuck in my head for the rest of the day too.[/quote]

Me also, and thanks for the Wizbit tune now also stuck in my head

There is no one coming through to replace these characters, force of personality in the media is there?

He’s from an era of only 3 TV channels and only one TV in each house – as an entertainer you had to be able to entertain a whole country and the whole family.

I must say that when I heard he was marrying his ‘Glamorous assistant Debbie McGee’ I thought that won’t last long.
Feel genuinely sad for her as they were obviously meant to be together.
Sad times for someone who it seems will be genuinely missed.
Probably an inspiration for a lot of wannabe magicians.

Now that’s tragic.

Muzzle 🙂

RIP, a reminder of how fast the end can come. I thought his sons Twitter post was very well done. Cliff Mitchelmore too as @Pigface says

Twitter post

I used to watch his show all the time growing up and i always seem to remember a russian couple coming on and doing amazing stuff like catching a bullet in his teeth. I think they appeared quite a few times.

Sad news. He and Debbie were in the local panto this Christmas, sad to think he deteriorated so quickly.

I met him before a live show at Leeds Grand in the 80s, I was prob about 10 at the time. Coincidentally enough my mum recently found the program he signed for me.

He’s from an era of only 3 TV channels and only one TV in each house – as an entertainer you had to be able to entertain a whole country and the whole family.

So true when you think about it.

Looked good for his age:

choppersquad – Member

I must say that when I heard he was marrying his ‘Glamorous assistant Debbie McGee’ I thought that won’t last long.
Feel genuinely sad for her as they were obviously meant to be together.

+1
Always remember her on the Mrs Merton show…
“So what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?” 😀

Me also, and thanks for the Wizbit tune now also stuck in my head

AS useless fact! It was an adaptation from a folk song by a Leadbelly.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcRgk_o4DI0[/video]

There seem to have been a lot of high-profile media and entertainment deaths in the last six months. I guess this is the beginning of the end of the first television generation of entertainers.

RIP. Sad he went so quick after the tumour announcement 🙁

i always seem to remember a russian couple coming on and doing amazing stuff like catching a bullet in his teeth.

Hans Moretti (and Helga IIRC). He died a couple of years back too (I don’t think it was bullet-related though).

Hans Moretti and indeed Helga. I remember the trick with the crossbows. Awesome.

RIP Mr. Daniels, you were a master of your trade.

Cougar – Moderator

Who let George RR Martin script 2016?

I think he was contracted to script 2011 and he’s just delivered it now

Good life and good death …

C’est la vie.

I liked Paul Daniels

… not a lot … but

MacCruiskeen well put

Poor Debbie 🙁

RIP Paul ,thanks for all the gentle entertainment and putting a smile on my face .

I feel so sad for Debbie, having been so much a part of each other’s lives for so long, poor lass is going to be utterly grief-stricken.
RIP Paul, a wizard, a true star. 🙁

Loved watching his shoes on Saturday evenings with the family. RIP.

RIP. Sad he went so quick after the tumour announcement

Having watched my mother-in-law die horribly of a brain tumour over a 4 year period, that’s definitely one where it’s better to go quickly 🙁

It would be easy to ‘dis’ him as being part of that entertainment era when there was nowt else on and say he was an annoying prat, as some folk I know might say, but what a master of his craft!

The chop cup routine as above, the magic kettle, bunco booth and under laboratory conditions stick in my mind as the magic that was Paul Daniels.

Only good news is it seems to have been quick.

RIP.

I met Paul Daniels (and the lovely debbie mcgee) in a service station as a kid in the 80’s, it was on our way back from a holiday in Blackpool. It was pretty cool as i asked for his autograph on my ticket to his show we had seen a few days earlier and he then spent the next half hour entertaining me (and very soon a growing crowd) with an impromptu magic show making things disappear.

Really nice guy from what i remember, and from hearing the reports and eulogies from others all day on the radio it appears that he was one of the genuine good guys from that era.

Cheers Paul, you made a 10yr old very happy and i’m sure my mum still has that signed ticket stub in one of her photo albums from the time.

Are we sure he’s dead? I mean, I saw him crushed by concrete, shot by a tank and cut in half. 5 minutes later he was back from the dead. Could this be his best trick to date?!

Always enjoyed his shows. RIP.

Matt pays him a great compliment

I pulled up in a service station next to Paul Daniels 15 or so yrs ago on the m4. They were in a massive rolls Royce magic 1 number plate sitting in the front eating a picnic off proper plates. The funny bit was a bottle of hp sauce on the dashboard with the lid off. It made me chuckle at the time.