TEESIDE FUNSTER PAUL  was actually christened Newton Daniels, but funnily enough he decided to change it to something snappier before hitting the big time. This he did through the usual channels (OP KNOCKS, WHEELTAPPERS) in the 1970s before getting his first starring show thanks to Granada, the LE-fest PAUL DANIELS’ BLACKPOOL BONANZA. At this point he wasn’t accompanied by The Lovely, but instead another assistant named Nikki Heard who, you won’t be surprised to learn, was also his girlfriend at the time. However she later left the partnership in both senses, perhaps after reading some of his fan mail, which Newton claimed “make Mayfair and Penthouse read like Enid Blyton”. Ahem. He became a national institution when he legged it over to the Beeb in 1979, and THE PAUL DANIELS MAGIC SHOW became a part of Saturday nights for some 15 years. Looking back, it reminds us of a golden age of light entertainment you just don’t get anymore, although at the time, we all hated it, because it seemed to be on all the time, and was always exactly the same. And all we can really remember was Mississippi Riverboat Magic. Which was just a magic trick. On a Mississippi Riverboat. Oh, and regular appearances from his “modern face of magic” son, Martin P.

Paul didn’t just do tricks, though, and throughout the ’80s he diversified as a quizmaster (“Say ‘Yes, Paul’”), hosting a trilogy of reliably entertaining if slight game shows, all of which had different concepts but all looked and sounded the same. ODD ONE OUT was the first, replaced in 1986 by EVERY SECOND COUNTS – or to give it it’s full name, EVERY! SECOND! COUNTS! Talking points from this show were a) whether or not the contestants got all the prizes they won in the final (they didn’t) and b) that fantastic twiddly bit in the closing theme to allow Newton to wish us all goodnight in as excruciatingly cheesy a way as possible. In 1994 the generic Paul Daniels Quiz Show mutated into WIPEOUT. Some would say that Paul was better at this than Lord Bob, but we disagree, as we love the bit at the end where Bob invites the contestant to look at the question card. And there was WIZBIT, of course. The Magic Show continued throughout the decade, including notorious Hallowe’en specials where he kept pretending to have killed himself, before time was called in 1994. Paul and Debbie then set up Secrets, “the most exciting nightclub in the world” – ie, it was The Paul Daniels Magic Show but with the audience sitting at tables. In the last show, Newton invited us to write to the BBC if we enjoyed the series. People did write to the BBC, but for a different reason. Since then he’s been pestering student unions to come and see his wife’s ballet, as well as taking his magic show around the country. And you will come and see it, won’t you, come on…