A colleague and brilliant magician Ian Keable wrote this fitting tribute.
It's almost impossible for the younger generation of magicians to realise
the impact that Paul Daniels had on us at one time. My friend Brian King
used to say that when he was asked by a booker what exactly he did as a
magician, he would just say 'I'm like Paul Daniels' and would get the gig.
Pre PD, there was David Nixon: a wonderful magician but old fashioned in
style and content. Daniels was fast talking, quick witted, a master at
sleight of hand, immensely likeable and very funny.
Without Daniels there would have been no Wayne Dobson, no Great Soprendo
(deliberately designed to be the opposite of Daniels) and (although I'm not
putting myself anywhere in the same category) no me. It was Daniels who
showed that you could be funny as well as being a good magician; and gave me
the confidence to step out into the comedy clubs.
When David Copperfield came over to London in 1994, he was destroyed by the
critics. Part of the reason was because his patter and comedy was compared
unfavourably with that of Paul Daniels. Reviewers actually had a magic
measuring rod to judge the illusionist by - and in this respect Copperfield
was found wanting.
The first time I saw Daniels it was on the Wheel Tappers and Shunters Club.
He came out of nowhere - I had never heard of or seen him before. I was
quite literally gob-smacked. I never knew that our wonderful art called
magic could match all of the other performing art forms when it came to
entertainment.
Mind readers have Derren Brown, Close-up performers have David Blaine &
Dynamo, Illusionists have David Copperfield. But us cabaret acts had Paul
Daniels and, at his best, he would have blown all of them away.
