Paul Daniels: 10 of his best magic tricks from TV - BBC News

Paul Daniels: 10 of his best magic tricks from TV

Paul Daniels and Debbie McGeePA

Paul Daniels has died aged 77.

He was born in Middlesbrough in 1938 and was the TV performer with a magic touch who entertained TV audiences for most of the 1980s and 1990s.

His BBC magic show ran from 1979 to 1994 and regularly attracted 15 million viewers per episode.

He was famous for his catchphrase, "You'll like this... not a lot, but you'll like it" and regularly introduced his assistant, who became his wife, as "The lovely Debbie McGee".

Paul Daniels also presented TV shows like Wipeout

His magic career took off when he did a summer season in Newquay, Cornwall, in 1969 and he eventually became a member of the Magic Circle.

Daniels also designed the special effects for the stage productions of Cats and Phantom Of The Opera, and was commissioned by the English National ballet to create magical effects for The Nutcracker.

Later on in his career he was interviewed by Louis Theroux and was voted off Strictly Come Dancing in 2010 in week two after an "infantile" and "wooden" rumba with Ola Jordan.

But it was his magic tricks that made him famous - here are 10 of the best.

1. Paul Daniels good trick/great trick

This one involved setting up Debbie McGee appearing after a card trick.

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2. Substitution Cage illusion

Here he gets into a closed cage.

3. Cup and Ball Magic

This one's about confusing people about where a ball's gone.

4. Aces in a Wine Glass Trick

This trick is about finding particular cards in a pack inside a wine glass.

5. ESP mind reading trick

A famous one this, where a "telepathy" trick is performed with cards.

6. Tubes and bottles

Paul Daniels swaps a wine bottle and a glass in this one using tubes.

7. Bewildering blocks

In this clip the magician swaps the order of blocks in a tube.

8. Billiard Balls

He makes billiard balls appear and disappear.

9. Rabbit from a hat

This one's pretty self-explanatory.

10. Chimpanzee card trick

This one involves animals - as many shows did in the 1970s and 1980s.

There are lots more tricks on Paul Daniels' own YouTube page.

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