Paul Daniels: Remembering when magician was on Wife Swap with Vanessa Feltz
'You and I are supposed to be husband and wife but what I actually feel like, I feel as if I’m interviewing you,' says Vanessa Feltz
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Your support makes all the difference.Magician Paul Daniels has died at his home in Berkshire, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The 77-year-old television star was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in February and left hospital 10 days ago to spend his final days at home surrounded by his family.
The lively entertainer first honed his magic skills in working men’s clubs, making his debut on talent series Opportunity Knocks in 1970.
Daniels fast became a mainstay on national television, fronting the BBC's Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran for a total of 15 years and going on to become Britain’s best-known magician.
Asides from his magical talents, later in life Daniels also made some lesser known ventures, appearing on the Ali G Show, Louis Theroux’s When Louis met…, The X Factor, The Farm and, last but not least, Wife Swap.
Of all of these, Wife Swap is arguably the most comical. Paul Daniel’s wife, Debbie McGee, swaps places with the rather vociferous radio presenter Vanessa Feltz.
In turn, Feltz moves into the magician’s Henley-On-Thames home and the pair share a rather stormy week, in which Feltz tries and fails to coax conversation out of a rather disinterested Daniels.
“In this programme, as far as I understood it, you and I are supposed to be husband and wife but what I actually feel like, I feel as if I’m interviewing you,” says Feltz.
“But if I didn’t ask anything would we just sit in complete silence or what?” the North London-born journalist adds.
Daniels replies: “Yes I like silence“.
He later says: “All the time I’ve been with Vannessa, she’s been digging but she’s a journalist and again she’s trying to lay her life on me. It aint going to work."
Used to a much faster pace of living, Feltz struggles to adjust to life in a secluded village, with just Daniel’s magic tricks to keep her occupied.
There appeared to be little chemistry between the pair, with The Daily Mail reporting that Feltz said: “The sight of him in his pyjamas did not fill me with love or put fire into my loins. I do not find him sexy - I find him sexless."
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