Paul Daniels' finger reattached after saw accident

A surgeon has reattached TV magician Paul Daniels' finger after he cut it off with a saw on New Year's Day.

Daniels, 73, lost his left index finger and the tip of his ring finger in an accident with a circular saw while building props for his act.

He drove himself from his Berkshire home to hospital in Henley-on-Thames, where the index finger was reattached.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I've only lost the tip of one finger. It could have been a hell of a sight worse."

'Gibbering wreck'

He added: "It's all healing up now and it's coming along really well; the surgeon's really pleased, the sensation's there, it's all bending. I will have to adapt when I get all the bandages off for the handling of some of the stuff I do."

Daniels said he was on his own at the time while his wife and assistant Debbie was being interviewed on a BBC radio station.

Daniels said on his blog: "Bad moments recur, the worst being full shock state one night which turned me into a gibbering wreck as I relived the moment it happened. This has given me a fuller understanding of shock. It's not nice."

He said he was recuperating while preparing for his new theatre tour, which will begin in February.