The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Magic Circle
Spellbindingly rare film of a young Paul Daniels performing with his first wife at the Middlesbrough Circle of Magicians.
From the collection of:
Overview
With his sharp Teesside wit and extraordinary sleight-of-hand tricks, Paul Daniels mesmerised the nation in the 1980s with his Saturday night TV magic show. As a young man, this master illusionist (then called Ted) performed in glitzy silver with his wife Jackie as the exotic-sounding Eldanis, in a stage act choreographed to Shadows music. This rare cine club film records the two as they perfect their skills with fellow members of the Middlesbrough Circle of Magicians.
Regarded as one of the greatest British stage magicians, Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward in 1938, grew up poor in sight of the Dorman Long steelworks and notorious slag heaps of South Bank, Middlesbrough, which earned the area its nickname, Slaggy Island. His obsession with magic tricks began on a wet North Yorkshire holiday aged eleven. Three years later, he held his first magic show at a Middlesbrough Methodist Youth Club, performing a multiplying balls trick, goal fish swallowing and card tricks. By 1964, the young ‘Ted’ Daniels and wife Jackie were both members of the Middlesbrough Circle of Magicians and that year won the club’s Will Fleet Trophy for excellence in all categories of magic.
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