Magician Paul Daniels remains upbeat despite brain tumour

The entertainer is sticking to his belief that when “it’s your time it’s your time” as he spends his last days at home surrounded by his family, Martin Daniels said.

The 77-year-old fell and was rushed to hospital suspected of suffering a stroke, although he was later diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, his son said.

“There’s no treatment which can help him,” said Martin Daniels.

“Doctors haven’t said how many weeks or months he might have - and we haven’t asked. He knows things are not in his hands now and we are living in the knowledge every day is a bonus.

“It is unbearably difficult. He has said before when ‘it’s your time it’s your time’ and that’s how he is trying to face up to things.”

Mr Daniels, 52, who is a magician himself, had to cut short a tour in Argentina after receiving a call from his father’s wife and assistant Debbie McGee, 57.

The entertainer remained upbeat while undergoing tests in hospital that later revealed he had a “rapidly growing” brain tumour, his son said.

“A couple of days after I arrived to see dad in hospital he was up and walking about trying to cheer up all the other patients.

“He said to me, ‘right I am going to have a wander round now and see if everyone is all right’. He went round the beds saying hello, making jokes. He sat at the nurses’ stations. He was doing a little ditty by the door to the ward saying, ‘roll up, roll up, visiting time is over folks’.”

Daniels, who is said to be “lucid”, is now at his Thames-side home with his family, said his son, adding that the support of his fans had given them “tremendous strength”.

It was while working the clubs that he developed his catchphrase, “You’ll like this ... not a lot, but you’ll like it.” He first came up with the line at a club in Bradford as a way to deal with a heckler.