TALENTED teenager John Lee came face-to-face with his magician hero Paul Daniels last night and declared: "It was a great honour."

John met Paul, his wife Debbie McGhee and son Martin Daniels before the magician's appearance at Burnley Mechanics. John described the show as brilliant.

It was watching Paul Daniels magic shows on TV that first got John, 18, interested in the art and by the age of 10 he was the proud owner of a Paul Daniels magic kit which he used to wow family and friends as he tried out his new talent.

Now John performs street magic during his holidays and weekends in Blackpool, London and Manchester and he says the response he gets from people who are unsure about magic is amazing, but nothing could top meeting his hero.

John, of Langdale Rise, Colne, said: "He gave me some invaluable tips about if ever a trick goes wrong and not to worry about it and he told me about life as a magician and what it involves and the different responses you get from people when you perform magic tricks. "He has always been my hero and he was the reason I got into magic as a child. I performed some tricks in front of him and he said he was very impressed. He said my hand work was very good and I had the right attitude towards magic."

John said he preferred street magic to TV work because it was more real to the people you were performing in front of rather that use special effects and have people thinking you use clever camera angles to create the illusions.

The former student at Primet High School, Colne, is currently on an art and design foundation course at Nelson and Colne College but hopes to become a street magician full-time. He has the same Manchester agent as Paul Daniels and has also completed modelling assignments and had walk-on roles in Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.

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