PAUL DANIELS

COMBINING illusion with one-liners proved a winning formula for Paul Daniels when he paid Bewdley a flying visit on Friday.

The magic funnyman - who looked surprisingly frail and small in the flesh - took all festival-goers could throw at him in his 5 ft 5 in stride.

After just a few minutes, when the spotlights failed and he was left peering into the gloom, he announced he had an accomplished background in radio.

He instantly developed a rapport with the audience - helped by repeated references to the continuing darkness.

Having only vague memories of the magician and his baffling Wizbit creation from his 1980s television show, I was struck by his naturalness on stage and the breadth of his interests.

He dwelt on the state of British television, using both humour and serious comments to criticise both commercial channels and the BBC.

One room being decorated, and one cookery programme, a week would keep him going, he said.

And airing a little-known fact, but one which clearly niggled him, he asked why BBC jobs were only advertised in the Bible of the liberal middle classes, The Guardian.

Daniels, who grew up in the industrial north east, shared some stories of his life as he has gone from a shy drifter, who did not even see a tree until he was 11, to national treasure.

The audience loved his recollection of a hair-raising flight in a single-engined plane from Aberdeen to Blackpool, when the occupants had to lean back to get airborne.

Quizzed afterwards by the Shuttle/ Times & News, Daniels said he "laughed all the time" and had had a "wonderful life" which provided him with almost endless material.

The second-half magic show featured card tricks, a passage where three lengths of rope miraculously grew and shrunk and equally puzzling tricks in which fruit would automatically appear and then disappear.

Again, Daniels' skill with people was on display.

When asking for two volunteers to come to the stage, he inquired where one man was from.

"Great Witley," eventually came the reply.

"Well," he shot back. "So long as you've got your health."

FA