Good article in today's Guardian can be found here:
Tommy Cooper Article

I don't know if those of you on the other side of the pond have heard of the late Tommy Cooper. Certainly, I have never seen him mentioned in The Café.

He was one of the most revered comedian/magicians in the UK. In fact one of the most loved entertainers full stop.

To give you some idea, here is a quote from the (admittedly pretentious) article:

"The audience can see that Cooper is the last man on earth who should ever be allowed to pick up a wand; the very idea is gloriously preposterous. He knows it too. He is everyone in the audience who has ever entertained the notion of being a magician, of surprising and astonishing the family and neighbours (as the instructions so glibly promise). When one of his tricks succeeds, we rejoice for him as we would for ourselves"

Pick up his videos if you can find any.