Magician Paul Daniels has died aged 77, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour, his publicist has said.
He had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in February.
Daniels was born Newton Edward Daniels in Middlesbrough and developed his magic skills in working men's clubs, making his TV debut on talent series Opportunity Knocks.
He went on to front the BBC's Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran for 15 years.
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Very sad news. He was part of childhood / teens and really popularised magic shows. RIP Paul Daniels xx
Big news on the local radio! They've just had the Charlatan Uri Geller on damning him with faint praise. I hadn't realised their dislike for each other.
Local lad done good! RIP.
Garage Joe posted:Big news on the local radio! They've just had the Charlatan Uri Geller on damning him with faint praise. I hadn't realised their dislike for each other.
Local lad done good! RIP.
My views on Uri Geller must remain private, because if I posted them here I'd be banned... 
i never liked him but apart from my honesty i saw his missus on tv, she looked gutted, really heartbroken, thats sad
Eugene's Lair posted:Garage Joe posted:Big news on the local radio! They've just had the Charlatan Uri Geller on damning him with faint praise. I hadn't realised their dislike for each other.
Local lad done good! RIP.
My views on Uri Geller must remain private, because if I posted them here I'd be banned...
as i read that i was eating my supper and my fork bent in half
pirate1111 posted:Eugene's Lair posted:Garage Joe posted:Big news on the local radio! They've just had the Charlatan Uri Geller on damning him with faint praise. I hadn't realised their dislike for each other.
Local lad done good! RIP.
My views on Uri Geller must remain private, because if I posted them here I'd be banned...
as i read that i was eating my supper and my fork bent in half
I like it, not a lot........
velvet donkey posted:pirate1111 posted:Eugene's Lair posted:Garage Joe posted:Big news on the local radio! They've just had the Charlatan Uri Geller on damning him with faint praise. I hadn't realised their dislike for each other.
Local lad done good! RIP.
My views on Uri Geller must remain private, because if I posted them here I'd be banned...
as i read that i was eating my supper and my fork bent in half
Good job you weren't taking a pee.
*winces* 
I saw Paul Daniels perform live several times. To be honest, his large-scale magic shows were starting to look a bit dated towards the end, but his small, one-man shows with his close-up magic and ask-me-anything audience interaction were excellent.
I personally think a lot of the recent obituaries haven’t fully done him justice. They give a lot of attention to his showmanship, and that certainly was hugely influential but – probably due to the secretive nature of magic – they haven’t given enough credit to his influence on magic itself. It’s perhaps not appreciated now that before Daniels, TV magicians actually used camera trickery for their illusions. He developed a lot of new tricks including – I believe – a new sleight-of-hand technique for vanishing cards. He was the first non-American to be voted “Magician of the Year” by the Academy of Magical Arts.
Outside of straight magic, Daniels – like several other famous magicians – was committed to educating the public against charlatans. His “Bunco Booth” routines were important and were the start of a “food chain” that led to shows such as “The Real Hustle”.
He developed special effects for stage shows such as “The Phantom of the Opera”.
Further afield, he was heavily involved in memory techniques, and produced TV shows, books and language courses based around them. He was also a prominent figure in the 80s home computing boom (Atari computers in his case).
I know he could be a bit of a “marmite” figure, and there were some aspects of his personal life that I wouldn’t defend, but think his career stands up incredibly strongly.
RIP 
