Veteran celebrity comedian Paul Daniels severed the top of his finger after an accident with a circular saw on New Year's Day at his home in Wargrave, Berkshire. Daniels, 73, was attempting to build a safety device for the power tool, but his finger slipped into the teeth of the saw.
According to the UK's Daily Mirror, the magician managed to turn off the machine and drive to the nearby hospital in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, with blood still gushing from his hand. Recalling the scary incident, Daniels said, "Very quickly and without any warning the piece of timber seemed to leap and pulled my left hand fingers into the teeth of the circular saw.I must have looked a weird sight doubled over with my face all screwed up from the pain and, I admit it, the pain". Despite doctors rushing to save his finger, Paul admits he could only help but think of his career, saying, "My head was full of the pain and the possible thought that it was the end of my magic". The magician was sent for plastic surgery at Wrexham Park Hospital in Slough, but the injury did little to dampen the entertainer's spirits, saying, "I've lost the top of my ring on my left hand. I'm not getting married again. I may try to get a prosthetic finger.My forefinger and my pinky was also damaged but it is recovering very well".
Daniels seems to have become more injury-prone in later life, and required medical attention in 2011 after he was hit in the face by a pizza thrown by a hand-puppet on 'The Sooty Show'.