David Nixon (magician)

{{Short description|English magician and television presenter (1919–1978)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}} {{Use British English|date=May 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = David Nixon | image = David Nixon with Basil Brush.jpg | birth_name = David Porter Nixon | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1919|12|29}} | birth_place = Muswell Hill, London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1978|12|1|1919|12|29|df=y}} | death_place = Surrey, England | occupation = Magician and television presenter | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Margaret Burton|1947|1952|end=div}} * {{marriage|Paula Marshall|1952|1956|end=d.}} * {{marriage|Vivienne Nichols|1961}} }} | children = 2 }}

'''David Porter Nixon''' (29 December 1919 – 1 December 1978)<ref name=gro-births>GRO Register of Births: MAR 1920 3a 1125 EDMONTON - David P. Nixon</ref><ref name=gro-deaths>GRO Register of Deaths: DEC 1978 17 1052 SURREY SE - David Porter Nixon, DoB = 29 Dec 1919</ref> was an English magician and television personality.<ref name="Bradford">{{cite web |url=http://bradfordmagiccircle.co.uk/bmc-magazine-228.html |title=The Life and Career of David Nixon |publisher=Bradford Magic Circle |first=Keith |last=Pickles |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206113640/http://bradfordmagiccircle.co.uk/bmc-magazine-228.html |archivedate=6 February 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref> At the height of his career, Nixon was among the best-known magicians in the UK.

==Early life== Born in Muswell Hill, London,<ref name=gro-births/> Nixon attended the Westcliff High School for Boys in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. His father was a lawyer whose hobby was magic and who took Nixon to watch performers such as Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant. One magician who made an early impression on the young boy was Stanley Collins, who had a gentlemanly image which influenced Nixon's later performing style. Nixon started performing magic himself after an aunt bought him an Ernest Sewell Magic Box for Christmas. On leaving school he gained a job with the ''Henley Telegraph'', the in-house magazine of the W. T. Henley Telegraph company, a publication which had been founded by Alfred Hitchcock.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/hitchcock/wiki/Henley_Telegraph| title = Henley Telegraph| publisher = hitchcockwiki.com|accessdate = 2007-11-01}}</ref> In 1938 he joined The Magic Circle. He also became an accomplished double bass player and performed with a local band.<ref name="Bradford"/>

==Entertainment career== With the advent of the Second World War, Nixon joined ENSA, the organisation that was set up to provide entertainment for British troops. He had been prevented from serving in a front line role as a result of suffering from pneumonia when he was a teenager. In summer 1946, after leaving ENSA, he joined the Fol de Rols, a touring variety troupe based in Scarborough and in addition to his conjuring act he acted as compere in their shows.<ref name="Bradford"/> In July 1948, he was in the cast of the "Out of the Blue" revue at the Spa Theatre, Scarborough<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=July 1, 1948 |page=10}}</ref> and he was joined on stage by the actor and comedian Norman Wisdom, who wreaked havoc with his act. The partnership was a success and the two men subsequently appeared at the London Casino in September 1948.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Stage |journal=The Stage |date=September 16, 1948 |page=2}}</ref>

In addition to his magic act, Nixon sang, danced and worked front of house. In 1947, he married a singer named Margaret Burton.<ref name="Bradford"/> The same year he gained his first opportunity on television in a show called ''Café Continental''. Nixon's big break came in 1954 when he was invited to be a panelist on the British version of the television quiz show ''What's My Line?'', appearing in 150 editions between 1954 and 1963. He presented series such as the British version of ''Candid Camera'', ''Comedy Bandbox'' (1962) (later ''David Nixon's Comedy Bandbox'' (1966) and was Basil Brush's first partner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/David_Nixon|title=UK Game Shows|publisher=www.ukgameshows.com|date=2007-10-03}}</ref>

Nixon was in demand for private society parties and frequently performed at the soirees of Mayfair hostess, Dorothy Hartman, owner of Lendrum & Hartman Limited, in Berkeley House, Hay Hill in the 1950s.<ref>Maud Coleno's Daughter -The life of Dorothy Hartman 1898-1957, John Dann, Matador, 2017, page 272</ref> His magic shows included ''Trix n Nixon'' (1962) ''Tonight with David Nixon'' (1969), ''David Nixon's Magic Box'' (1970-71) and ''The David Nixon Show'' (1972-77) as well as ''David Nixon's Christmas Magic'' (1974) that featured a classic magic trick where Lynsey de Paul appeared to disappear from a glass casket while leaving behind a still warm dress.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1603168/|title=David Nixon's Christmas Magic|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> He also appeared as a panelist in the BBC radio comedy panel game, ''Many a Slip''.

He was the subject of ''This Is Your Life'' in 1973 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Magic Circle Headquarters in London. He then presented an episode of the programme the following year, in which the subject was the series' regular British host, Eamonn Andrews. A keen chess player, Nixon presented ''Checkmate'', an ATV series teaching the basics of the game.

Alongside his skills as a magician, Nixon liked to use television technology for humour and entertainment. In the 1970s, when the technology of colour separation overlay became available, he developed a way to interact with a recording of himself apparently on the other side of a mirror. Not only was the conversation perfectly coordinated, he also used sleight-of-hand to appear to pass objects back and forth to himself.

David Nixon has been recognised as an influence on future UK magicians as diverse as Wayne Dobson<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waynedobson.co.uk/profile.htm|title=Wayne Dobson profile|publisher=waynedobson.co.uk|date=2007-09-03|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906091518/http://www.waynedobson.co.uk/profile.htm|archivedate=6 September 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and Jerry Sadowitz.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://living.scotsman.com/comedy/Joking-apart.2757335.jp|title=Joking Apart - Interview with Jerry Sadowitz|publisher=The Scotsman|date=2007-09-03}}</ref>

Nixon was a narrator in the show ''Emil and the Detectives'', at the Mermaid Theatre, London.

David Nixon made his final television appearances posthumously, as a guest on ''Basil Brush's Magical Christmas'', broadcast on BBC1 on 23 December 1978, ''Celebrity Squares'', broadcast on ITV on 24 February 1979 and on ''Give Us a Clue'', also broadcast on ITV on 27 March 1979.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2g1s12dXV8 | title=Give Us a Clue S1 feat Amanda Barrie, Maureen Lipman, Melvyn Hayes | website=YouTube }}</ref>

==Mellotron== Among Nixon's lesser known activities was his involvement in backing the development and manufacture of the Mellotron, an electro-mechanical musical instrument, and the company Mellotronics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gardenshedmusic.com/mellotron_2.cfm|title=History of The Mellotron|publisher=gardenshedmusic.com|date=2007-10-03}}</ref> He appeared in a 1965 Pathé newsreel feature to demonstrate the instrument.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdkixaxjZCM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/HdkixaxjZCM |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=The Mellotron: A Keyboard with the Power of an Orchestra (1965)|publisher=British Pathé|date=2020-01-19}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Death== thumb|Comic Heritage plaque, Teddington Nixon died of lung cancer in Surrey in 1978.<ref name=gro-deaths/> He was a heavy smoker and was first found to have cancer in 1976. He underwent treatment, which appeared to have been successful, but the disease returned a couple of years later and he died just short of his 59th birthday.<ref name="Bradford"/>

==Private life== Nixon married Margaret Burton in 1947; the couple divorced in 1952.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5088643.peter-sellers-secret-love-revealed/|title=Peter Sellers' secret love revealed|website=The Argus|date=15 September 2004 }}</ref> Later the same year, Nixon married his second wife, Paula Marshall (Pauline E. Youngs), who worked with him in his act.<ref name="Bradford"/> Paula died aged 28 in a car crash in 1956, the year after the birth of their son. Nixon remarried in 1961 to Vivienne Nichols, the step-daughter of the bandleader Eric Robinson. The couple had a daughter in 1961.<ref name="Bradford"/>

==Selected filmography== * ''The Spider's Web'' (1960)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0633226}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070428220101/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/31133 BFI Database on The David Nixon Show] * [http://www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?search=David+Nixon lostshows.com lostshow.com on what David Nixon shows exist in the TV archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200110/http://www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?search=David+Nixon |date=27 September 2007 }} * [http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/other/nixon.htm David Nixon page at Whirligig TV] * {{YouTube|cdLK7T0Cd5w|David Nixon stretching John Inman on TV}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, David}} Category:1919 births Category:1978 deaths Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Category:English magicians Category:English television presenters Category:People educated at Westcliff High School for Boys Category:People from Muswell Hill Category:Tobacco-related deaths Category:Deaths from lung cancer in England