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05
Jul
Why Paul Daniels couldn’t work his magic on Knaresborough
I asked a couple of Knaresborian friends if they knew that the TV magician Paul Daniels was once a part-owner of Mother Shipton’s Cave.
“Nah, I’d have heard about that,” one said.
I even tracked down a copy of his 2000 autobiography, Under No Illusion, to try and find out more but there wasn’t a single mention of Knaresborough. Alas, he did find space to detail his “sexathons” with wife Debbie McGee. Copies on Amazon are available.
When I came across a newspaper headline from 1988 that said Daniels was “hounded out” of the town, I began to suspect that this was a chapter of his life he wanted to disappear through a trap door.
Wizbit-land
In the summer of 1986, Paul Daniels and his business partner Frank McBratney bought the Dropping Well Estate, the home of Mother Shipton’s Cave, for a reported £400,000.
Daniels was at the peak of his fame in the 1980s, performing his magic tricks to millions of viewers.
He was born in Middlesbrough and had good memories of visiting the attraction as a boy. He probably felt some kinship with old Ursula Southeil, the legendary soothsayer, who in some ways was the celebrity magician of her day.
After buying the site, the pair also had eyes on the nearby Conyngham Hall. Harrogate Borough Council was open to offers as it was looking to plug a gap in the town’s finances after Knaresborough Zoo closed at the grounds there in 1986.
Daniels and McBratney proposed a bizarre theme park concept, involving magic, puzzles and adventure. It was rumoured to be based around Wizbit, a nightmarish yellow wizard character that Daniels created for children’s TV, no doubt terrifying a generation.
The idea went down as badly as you might expect. One outraged letter to the Knaresborough Post, titled ‘Do Your Vanishing Act, Daniels’, said that Conyngham Hall was every Knaresborian’s birthright. The person added: “The idea should be put into Daniels’ magic box and disappeared.”
Stardust
While the plans for Conyngham Hall never materialised, Daniels was still the part-owner of Mother Shipton’s Cave and believed it was not being used to its full potential. Visitor numbers were down and he reckoned that his stardust could help.
Daniels and McBratney had various plans, including a new visitor centre, Edwardian-style tea rooms, a vintage clock tower and a bandstand.
Paul Daniels' petrified rabbit in Mother Shipton's.
Local businessman Philip Allott was a Knaresborough councillor during the 1980s. He told the Stray Ferret that he met with the “flamboyant” Daniels to discuss his vision for the attraction. He was pleased that the celebrity had bought into the magic of the Dropping Well and Mother Shipton’s legend.
Mr Allott said:
It was seen as a marriage made in heaven. He was famous and could draw attention to the Dropping Well estate. He came up with all sorts of schemes. I thought it was great, but the town council was up in arms.
The problem was that any new building close to the entrance of Mother Shipton’s would alter the famous view from Castle Top looking down at the River Nidd and the viaduct. Various heritage and civic groups in Knaresborough mobilised.
Paul Daniels had regular meetings with groups in Knaresborough to discuss the plans but his flashy nature didn’t always go down too well. He’d park at Mother Shipton’s with a red Ferrari that had a number plate of MAGIC. Debbie McGee attended one meeting with the Chamber of Trade wearing a mink fur coat, dripping with diamonds.
Mr Allott added:
It became an absolute nightmare for Daniels. These groups were filing lots of reports and objecting to things, making his life a misery. He thought, why should I invest and spend my money here? He began to see it as something that could be a drain on his popularity.
Vandals with a grudge against the TV magician even defaced road signs leading to the cave. Six of them were daubed with 'Mother Daniels Cave'.
I have seen more offensive graffiti, but nevertheless, a North Yorkshire Police spokesman was forced to urge witnesses to come forward: “Someone obviously doesn't like Mr Daniels”, they said, helpfully.
Warlock
By 1988, two planning applications for the visitor centre had been refused by Harrogate Borough Council. Daniels and McBratney appealed and it was set to go to a public inquiry.
But before it got to that, and perhaps predicting the way the wind was blowing, Daniels was out after just two years in Knaresborough. He sold his rumoured 25% stake in the Dropping Well estate to his business partner and blamed the “unreasonable attitude of local people”.
Len Cohen, landlord of the now demolished Yorkshire Lass pub, which was over the road from Mother Shipton’s, said at the time:
Paul Daniels doesn't need this sort of aggro so he must have thought I don't need this hassle. It was a sad day for Knaresborough when he left. If they had to hire someone of his calibre as a public relations exercise, it would cost £100,000’s, but we got him for nothing.
Daniels, a self-proclaimed warlock, had boasted that once the new visitor centre was complete, he would make a prediction to the world from Knaresborough, just like Mother Shipton had done 400-odd years before.
His prophecy never came. He couldn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat so all that’s left from his unhappy time here is a petrified toy white rabbit in the Mother Shipton Cave’s museum.
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