Magician says ‘Thanks Uncle Paul (Daniels)’

A MAGICIAN who learned from one of the best is bringing his show to Henley.

James Phelan is the nephew of the late, great Wargrave magician Paul Daniels — his mother Donna is the sister of Paul’s widow, Debbie McGee.

The 30-year-old, who has his own show, called Trickster, on BBC Radio Berkshire, will perform as The Greatest Magician at the Kenton Theatre on Friday,
October 28.

James, who lives in Surrey, says that he has developed his own magic but will always be grateful to his uncle for his advice and support.

He says: “For my first five years of touring, I had to stop myself saying, ‘Not a lot’ at the end of every sentence.

“I used to rely very heavily on bouncing stuff off my uncle Paul but now I purposely stay away from his stuff.

“My material is very me rather than him but it is nice to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of magic just from growing up with it.

“I’ve kind of been studying it my whole life. I’ve done magic since I was two-and-a-half years old and I used to put on little shows for my auntie and uncle.

“I learnt magic by watching the VHS tapes that my nan had recorded of Paul’s television show and rewinding and fast-forwarding.”

Daniels was a great sounding board.

James recalls: “I would be sat in my uncle’s living room and just going through ideas.

“He would say something off-the-cuff that would be meaningless but would be the spark of genius that would just completely unravel my thinking for the next week or so.”

The Greatest Magician is billed as being directed by Daniels and James says: “The show’s not overly sentimental but it’s really a love letter to my uncle Paul.”

In 2016, James was all set to appear on Britain’s Got Talent with input from Daniels but had to scrap it when it was discovered he had incurable brain cancer and he died in March that year.

James says: “We basically pulled it because we filmed it before my uncle was ill. When he had been poorly we would sit talking about stuff in his show.” James has also got to know other famous magicians including Derren Brown and David Copperfield.

In 2014, he was able to help the famous American pair Penn and Teller with an urgent request at short notice.

He recalls: “I got a phone call from my Uncle Paul saying, ‘Do we know a suit tailor?’ and I said, ‘Maybe but probably not today’.

“It was the middle of August on a Sunday afternoon and he goes, ‘We need a suit tailor’.

“I said, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘Well, Penn and Teller are over and doing their Vegas show at the Hammersmith Apollo’.

“Prince Charles, now King Charles, is a member of the Magic Circle, and someone had rung them on his behalf and said, ‘Would you mind staying an extra day and doing a show for us?’

“They said, ‘Yes, of course, we’d love to’. They went back to their hotel and Teller found his tuxedo didn’t fit anymore as he had put on weight.

“They were running around London, going, ‘How do we get this suit altered?’ and they go, ‘Who do we know in the UK? Paul Daniels’.

“Then he rings me and I go, ‘Fine, I’ll sort it’, so I drive to the Hammersmith Apollo and there’s Teller standing there and he has a Sainsbury’s bag with his trousers in.

“I take them off him and I and drive 200 miles to the only person that had answered the phone.

“It takes them 30 seconds to alter the trousers and then I get in my car, drive 200 miles back and say, ‘Mr Teller, here are your trousers’.”

The alterations were done by his aunt, Angela Bockett-Pugh, a seamstress who makes children’s first Holy Communion outfits for a living.

James says: “Penn and Teller been very nice to me ever since. They send me a Christmas card every year. They also invited me over to Vegas where I’ve just done a fortnight with this show.”

James, who also did a stint at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, says the show is fun.

“It is just a party, it’s nothing other than escapism,” he says. “We don’t talk about covid, or the cost of living, or Brexit, or any of those things, it is just joy.

“It is very much empowering the audience and making them laugh. I do things like make people forget their own names and stop people being able to read and we tell stories. It is just a riot.”

James remains grounded with the help of his close-knit family.

He says: “I speak to Debbie every day about the show and she’s just a huge support.

“It’s nice when someone like uncle Paul has been in your life. You can kind of imagine how they would respond if you asked them the question.”

• The Greatest Magician with James Phelan is at the Kenton Theatre on Friday, October 28 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £24.50 and the show has a running time of 110 minutes with a 20-minute interval. For more information and to buy tickets, call the box office on (01491) 525050 or visit www.kentontheatre.co.uk