The 30th New Zealand International Magicians Convention

Special Guest : Debbie McGee

At nineteen Debbie McGee graduated from the Royal Ballet School and joined the Iranian National Ballet in Tehran. She became part of the Corps de Ballet and later a soloist, but her ballet career was brought to an abrupt halt by the Islamic Revolution. Forced to flee the country she ended up returning to the UK where she auditioned for the Bernard Delfont Organisation, responsible for a number of summer resort shows and touring productions.

Delfont found her a job performing on stage with Paul Daniels in his 1979 summer show in Great Yarmouth. She later joined Dougie Squires' Second Generation troupe as a dancer, which involved touring Europe with acts including ABBA, Chris de Burgh and James Last.

After a season of pantomime, McGee again joined Paul for his 1980 summer season in Bournemouth. She then went on to perform in his London stage show "It's Magic," which opened in 1980 and which, by the time it closed 14 months later, had become one of the longest running magic shows ever to play in the West End.

McGee was to achieve international fame through subsequent television appearances with Paul, who referred to her as "the lovely Debbie McGee," a phrase that entered popular culture. Debbie and Paul were married in 1988.

In 2004 Debbie presented "Box Jumpers," a two-part radio documentary about magician's assistants for BBC Radio. She currently works as a presenter for BBC Radio Berkshire where she hosts a regular Sunday morning show from 9am to 12noon.

Debbie McGee with Paul Daniels, John Inman and Frank Thornton, Children's Royal Variety Show Performance, 1991

Click here for the next headliner
Click here to return to the main page