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Thursday, March 17, 2016

By Rob McGibbon
Published on 3rd October 2014

My philosophy for life? KISS A TIT! It’s an acronym I made up in my 40s to help me focus on my work. It stands for: ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid, And Think It Through.’ It can be applied positively to just about anything in life.

The prized possession you value above all others…

Two steel bowls from a vintage magic trick called The Rice Bowls. They were made for the British magician Robert Harbin in the 1940s and were a present from the Irish magician Quentin Reynolds, as a thank you for helping him out early in his career. I advised him on how to look after the business side of magic and he was very grateful. The trick itself is probably worth about £2,000, but it is incredibly rare and it was a very thoughtful present. I keep it on display in a cabinet.

The biggest regret you wish you could amend…

Wasting so much money on flash cars in the 1980s and 90s. I started off with a Citroen Maserati, then a Ferrari, followed by a couple of Bentleys. I threw away hundreds of thousands of pounds in what I call a “Clarkson-syndrome”. No matter what you spend on a car, it’s still no more than a metal box with wheels. I also spent a fortune filling those things with petrol. These days, I have a 10-year-old Mercedes E Class Estate, which is a fine workhorse, and an Isuzu Trooper for pulling my boat.

The temptation you wish you could resist…

I try not to resist anything – what’s the point! But I do wish I didn’t check my Twitter and Facebook accounts every morning because I spend at least an hour responding to messages and comments when I should get on with work. It’s a big distraction, but I enjoy the interaction with people.

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The book that holds an everlasting resonance…

Greater Magic by John Northern Hilliard. I came across it in my 20s, but I only really understood it properly years later. It covers the full gamut of magic tricks, but it also deals with big subjects, not least the meaning of life and how magic fits into it all. The Prologue and Epilogue are brilliant and full of wisdom.

The priority activity if you were the Invisible Man for a day…

The American magician Mac King is a great friend who does a very funny skit in his Las Vegas show when he pretends to be invisible. I’d love to freak him out by being a real invisible man during that. That would be hilarious.

The pet-hate that makes your hackles rise…

My own untidiness. Every day I promise to turn over a new leaf and start putting things back in the right place, but of course I don’t. This means that Debbie [his wife, Debbie McGee] and our housekeeper always put things away, which I then struggle to find. It’s all basically my fault.

The film you can watch time and time again…

The Wizard of Oz. My dad Hughie was the projectionist and then the manager of our local cinema [in South Bank, near Middlesbrough]. I was about nine when I watched the film there and I remember being amazed as the screen turned from black and white to colour. I can still see that transformation in my mind today. Judy Garland’s voice is wonderful and it is, for me, the most beautiful movie ever made.

The person who has influenced you most…

My dad influenced me in every way. He was a lovely man, whom everybody liked. He was short, stocky and very strong and was so practical that he could do everything, from mend cars, to do the electrics in the house. We would sit down and invent things together. He was incredibly knowledgeable and he inspired me to want to know about things.

The figure from history for whom you’d most like to buy a pie and a pint…

I’d like to sit down with Stalin and ask him why he murdered all those people. I simply want to understand what he thought gave him the right?

The piece of wisdom you would pass on to a child…

Read as much as you can, about as much you can. And always question everything you read. 

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…

I’m in interested in everything! But I am particularly fascinated by the human memory system. I have studied it to the extent that I am now paid to coach people how to remember things.

The treasured item you lost and wish you could have again…

The tip of the ring finger on my left hand, which I cut off when I was working with a circular saw on New Year’s Day 2012. The top phalange – as it is known – has completely gone. I had to re-train myself to do card tricks. I am fine now, but every object I touch with that finger still feels like they have a hole in them. The brain still thinks it has a fingertip there, which is a strange sensation. The surgeon pulled over the loose bit of flesh that was left to create a pad at the tip. Astonishingly, that has now started creating a new fingerprint! 

The unending quest that drives you on…

The pursuit of new knowledge. I already have a good general knowledge, but I love learning, so I won’t ever stop. They say that nobody likes a know-all, which is probably why Debbie refuses to watch Eggheads with me! 

The poem that touches your soul…

None! I don’t read poetry, although I have always been tickled by Ogden Nash’s work because of it silliness and clever play on words.

The misapprehension about yourself you wish you could erase…

That I am not 6ft 2in! For some reason, everyone, except me, thinks that I am 5ft 6in. Seriously, it is annoying that people think I perform the same on stage as I did on television. TV is a 5th rate entertainment medium because it goes through so many layers of control before it reaches the viewer – like the producer, the director, the cameraman etc. My live performances are way funnier and more entertaining than the TV shows. I’ve had people come up to me after my shows and say, “I couldn’t stand you on telly, but that was great!”

The event that altered the course of your life and character…

Reading about the Age Cards prediction magic trick when I was 11. I was trapped in a house on holiday in Yorkshire with it raining outside when I came across a Victorian book with instructions on how to do that trick. I sat down and learnt it, then did it on a few people. It was very exciting and it opened up the whole world of magic to me and changed the entire course of my life.

The crime you would commit knowing you could get away with it…

I would wipe out the people who make decisions NOT to dredge our rivers – preferably by drowning! All this flooding we have had – including our house in Berkshire – is because their bad decisions have made our rivers a lot shallower.

The song that means most to you…

Zadok The Priest, which is one of Handel’s Coronation Anthems. It was played at the end our wedding celebrations in 1988 as we fired off thousands of pounds worth of fireworks. It was a special day and that music always takes me back.

The way you would spend your fantasy 24 hours, with no travel restrictions…

A perfect day would be spent with all my family. My three sons – Gary, Paul and Martin – are spread over the country, so we are seldom all together at one time. So, I’d start the day with the boys and my grandchildren – Martin’s kids Lewis, 15, and Camilla, 12 – with a big breakfast at the Magic Castle Hotel in Hollywood, which is so much fun. Then we’d head to Disneyland. I love the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, so that’s a must. Then we’d go to Knott’s Berry Farm theme park, also in California, which has loads of rides and a Wild West theme. Lunch would be in a Red Lobster restaurant in LA, then we’d head north to Universal Studios. I love all things to do with movies, which harks back to my dad running a cinema. I’d stop off in the Psycho House. I’d pop back to London for my favourite snack – double eggs and chips with white bread and butter – at the Windows Restaurant at the top of the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. I asked for it there once, even though it was not on the menu, and they were very understanding! In the evening, Debbie and I would check into The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas then go and see two spectacular shows – O by Cirque du Soleil and Mac King’s magic show. After all that, we would relax at La Chevre d’Or hotel in Eze, high up in the hills in the South of France. I rarely drink, but I’d have a glass of Sancerre on the terrace and watch the lights of the boats sparkling far off on the Mediterranean until late into the night.

The happiest moment you will cherish forever…

Pulling off a particularly difficult gig in the early 1990s in Brussels. It was a charity event to raise money for cancer but the audience was super rich bankers and European aristocracy – people not best known for being able to “belly laugh”, as we call it in Yorkshire. It was the toughest audience you can imagine, but not long into the gig I could see people crying with laughter. I really had got ’em and it felt very satisfying. Doing great shows is what drives me on. I love making people happy.

The saddest time that shook your world…

The day my father died 20 years ago when he was 73. He had suffered a series of strokes and died in hospital. I was with him when he went. I felt like I had lost my mate and it hit me really hard. I still miss him, even now, but I talk to him all the time. I will be in my workshop struggling to make something and I’ll say, “Come on now, Dad, how do I this?” And he’ll help me in some way or other.

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…

To be in a movie would be great fun. A comedy would be ideal, but I’m up for any role.

The philosophy that underpins your life…

“KISS A TIT!” It’s an acronym I made up in my 40s to help me focus on my work. It stands for: Keep It Simple Stupid And Think It Through”. It can be applied positively to just about anything in life.

The order of service at your funeral…

It will be a non-religious event because I’m not a ‘believer.’ If they’ll allow it, I’d like a service at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the West End, with a few friends getting up to tell a load of lies about how much they loved me, followed by a little party at our house on The Thames. This would end with a fireworks display and my ashes exploding from inside a rocket fired over the river. 

The way you want to be remembered…

As the only man who lived to see the end of the DFS Sale!

 

Paul Daniels died aged 77  from a brain tumour on 17 March 2016

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