Paul Daniels is an inspirational man, says Vanessa Feltz
Did I like Paul Daniels’ magic show? Not a lot. Tricks, even clever ones, leave me stone cold.
Paul Daniels has been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour
Did I relish his company when, way back in 2007 I had to move in to his eccentric and oft-flooded house on the banks of the Thames for the television programme Wife Swap? Not really, our personalities jarred and grated against one another’s till I’m sure he could cheerfully have wrung my neck.
Did I weep salt tears when our enforced week of proximity came to an end? Lord, no. Frankly, I couldn’t wait to run into my Other Half’s outstretched arms, bid adieu to Mr D and the lovely Debbie McGee and get back to my real life without fear of having an egg plucked out of my ear or being sawn in half.
Paul and I didn’t see eye to eye on anything. I devour the daily news. He preferred to watch re-runs of 70s TV shows while eating a bowl of ice-cream. I love a spirited chat. He prefers women who are seen but not heard. He can be a touch cantankerous. I was hoping for affability.
He was short-tempered and keen on holding forth without pausing to seek anyone else’s point of view. I bristled at his dictatorial style. He didn’t lift a finger about the house. I cleaned his loo, but under sufferance.
Paul and Debbie have been together for over 35 years
Paul Daniels may be on the irascible side, but he is a force of nature, a one man hive of activity, and an inspiration to be around
You might, therefore, be surprised to hear that I am truly devastated to hear Paul has been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour and I’ll tell you why.
Paul Daniels may be on the irascible side, but he is a force of nature, a one man hive of activity, a bright, driven indefatigable enthusiast and, without a word of exaggeration, an inspiration to be around. I was astounded by his thirst for knowledge, his hunger for stimulation, his determination to bounce back after being slighted by TV executives who no longer required his services.
In 2007 he was 68 years old, and utterly unstoppable. One moment he’d be up a ladder doing a spot of roof re-pointing, the next he’d be water-proofing his rowing boat, mastering a fiendishly difficult piece of magic equipment or trekking out to see his elderly but indomitable mother.
Paul Daniels Magic Show - Cup and Balls routine
Paul Daniels seemed to me to be a lesson in persistence, stoicism and downright determination. Of course, there’s more. Having observed him at the closest possible quarters – I even saw him in his pyjamas – I can confirm that Paul and Debbie, despite Mrs. Merton and the nay-sayers, are deeply, passionately in love and the embodiment of a match made in heaven.
He is berserk about her. She is bonkers about him. My Other Half, Ben, incarcerated in Feltz Towers with Debbie, said that she was pining for Paul and missed him with every fibre of her being.
I witnessed Paul hankering for Debbie, visibly wilting without her and springing back to full vigour the second he set eyes on her again. To watch Mr. and Mrs. Daniels together is to understand the line from the film Jerry McGuire: “You complete me”. Together they are whole.
So I send Paul and Debbie boundless love at this incredibly difficult time. I know that they will, as ever, prove one another’s greatest support and simply add my voice to the chorus of fans and friends wishing them strength and comfort.
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Kylie Minogue has announced her engagement to toy boy Josh Sasse
Happy ever after for Kylie?
I want Kylie Minogue to live happily ever after as vigorously as the next woman, and sincerely hope her new fiancé Josh Sasse, at 28 nearly 20 years her junior, is the right knight on a silver steed.
Let’s look at the facts. Kylie is old enough to be his mum. What’s more, she’s a massive star, a multi-millionairess and famous planet-wide.
He is a little-known actor who has enjoyed mild success, the father of a two-year old son based in Italy and a handsome cove with an impressive sprouting of facial hair. It’s an unusual union, but, it could work.
So why then is it that everyone I’ve spoken to seems certain that Kylie will not walk up the aisle to meet Josh? Kylie fans say she has form where falling in love with gorgeous looking younger guys is concerned.
She hurtles head-first into whirlwind romances, yet the wedding date is never announced and the relationship eventually loses momentum and peters out. Come on Kylie, pick a dress and a cake and prove them wrong.
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Prince Charles has spoken about his love of grammar
Prince is right about grammar
There can be a scintilla of the sanctimonious prig about Prince Charles if he doesn’t watch it. Keen to tell the rest of us how important it is to watch our nouns and adverbs and keep on the right side of English grammar he delivers a long story about being read Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha by Prince Philip as a child.
Most kids adore Hiawatha because it’s a fantastically gripping story, written in a rhythmic verse form that gallops away with your imagination. Prince Charles, on the other hand, was captivated not by the plot, the battles or the love interest but – he would have us believe – by the grammar!!
“If we stop using commas, or even full stops I do wonder how we can hope to make sense of the world. Grammar matters.” says the Prince. He’s right, but the notion of a small boy learning to love subjunctive clauses at his father’s knee is not only hard to believe in but somehow falls a tad short in the awe and wonderment department.
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Millie Mackintosh has split from husband Professor Green
The chemistry wasn’t enough
They said it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. Made In Chelsea star and Quality Street heiress Millie Mackintosh has split from her husband rapper Professor Green, a.k.a. Stephen Manderson, after two years of marriage.
She is a privileged private school educated young lady. He’s a rough diamond from the wrong side of the tracks.
They were the Uptown Girl and Downtown Guy of the Billy Joel track and it’s a shame their chemistry wasn’t strong enough to confound the doom-mongers who predicted divorce before the ink was even dry on their marriage certificate.
Opposites may attract, it’s remembering why that’s so often the problem.
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