‘My husband booked a masterclass with Paul Daniels. I thought, I should be doing this’: Mrs Bubbles
When Mandy Holliday’s then husband booked himself a masterclass with the magician Paul Daniels, two decades ago, Holliday couldn’t stop thinking about it. Her husband was a children’s entertainer, and Holliday was a West End actor with little prior interest in magic, but she couldn’t resist. “It was so inspirational. You know those days where you feel: my life has changed? He told us, ‘If you want to be a magician, the first thing to do is amateur dramatics: you can learn all the magic tricks in the world, but if you’re not comfortable in front of an audience, you’re not entertaining; if you don’t have a good routine, it’s boring.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, God, I should be doing this myself.’”