TV magician Paul Daniels died at home in Berkshire on 17th March. The 77-year-old entertainer had been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour last month.
Daniels was with his wife Debbie McGee in his last hours. His son Gary confirmed the news on Twitter and posted a picture of a crying rabbit sitting in a magician’s hat carrying an Ace card within a broken heart. “It is with incredible sadness that I can confirm that Dad, Paul Daniels, passed away over night”, he wrote.
It is with incredible sadness that I can confirm that Dad, @ThePaulDaniels, passed away over night. pic.twitter.com/XhZepFJ4DW
— Gary Daniels (@AllNRG) March 17, 2016
“Debbie and the family would like to thank everyone for their support and asks that their privacy be respected at this sad time,” his publicist said. “The TV star, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier this year, passed away peacefully at home with Debbie at his side in the early hours of this morning,” he added.
Daniels’s interest in magic began at the early age of 11. He converted his hobby into a career when started performing at private parties. As he grew older and more established, he began entertaining at clubs in the evenings.
His big break came in 1969 when he was received a summer offer at Newquay a town in Cornwall. Then nine years later, in 1978, Daniels had his first own Sunday night television show, Paul Daniel’s Blackpool Bonanza on ITV. A year later he moved to BBC and performed his best-known series, Paul Daniel’s Magic Show, which ran for 15 years before coming to an end in 1994.
BBC described Paul Daniels as a man who “brought a new dimension to the art of the stage magician, mixing complex tricks with jokes and non-stop patter.”
Tributes have been pouring in on Twitter, with both fans and contemporary magicians expressing their love and condolences for Paul Daniel.
We have lost a lovely, kind and MAGIC man @thepauldaniels Love you & thinking of u @thedebbiemcgee . I shall miss him ‘A LOT’ xx
— Keith Chegwin (@keithchegwin) March 17, 2016
RIP God bless @ThePaulDaniels Thoughts are with his family and friends. He was a nice man x
— Darren Day (@DarrenDOfficial) March 17, 2016
Daniels was bestowed with the prestigious “Magician of the Year” Award by the Academy of Magical Arts in 1982. He was the first non-American magician to receive the award. In 2011, he also awarded the “Great Lafayette Award” by the Edinburgh International Magic Festival.
Sub-edited by Anushka