World Briefs

Magician Paul Daniels has told how he accidentally sliced off the top of his finger with a circular saw.

The television personality said he was making props in his garden shed on New Year’s Day when the block of wood leapt up, exposing his left hand to the blade. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “The saw went right through my first finger, missed my middle one almost completely and took the top of my third one.

“How it missed the second finger is a trick in itself. The top of the third finger is all ground up and gone.” The entertainer, who lives in Berkshire, managed to stop the saw with his right hand and thrust his injured hand into his coat before running to his car and driving himself to hospital in Henley-on Thames.

He was later seen by plastic surgery specialists who saved his index finger, but were unable to save the top of his ring finger. Although he initially feared for his career and is yet to regain full sensation in his digits, he is hopeful he will make a full recovery.

“I was very worried. They did a fantastic job. Everything’s on the mend now,” he told the newspaper.

The magician, who is due to go on tour next month, said he will have to “change my methods slightly” but his planned shows will still go ahead.

The 73-year-old appeared on the BBC1 show Strictly Come Dancing in 2010 and was the second contestant to be voted off. He has also appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap with Debbie McGee, whom he married in 1988.

Country music star escapes fire

Country star Lee Brice and his crew fled their tour bus minutes before it was engulfed in flames.

KNXV-TV said the group had been on the road for nine hours when the bus caught fire outside a restaurant in Arizona yesterday. The Love Like Crazy singer had a concert in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

Mesa fire-fighter Shaun Denman said crews worked quickly to keep the fire from spreading to a trailer behind the bus. He said the flames were “about as high as the roof of the building”.

Brice said he and a few other people were asleep at the time. After being alerted they fled the bus “and within minutes it was in flames”.

He said he was thankful no-one was hurt.

Sex is safe for most heart patients

American doctors issued some good news this week – having a heart attack need not spell the end of your love life.

In its first recommendations on the issue, the American Heart Association said sex is safe for most heart patients. If you are fit enough to walk up a couple of slights of stairs without chest pain or gasping for breath, then you can make love, although it recommends getting a doctor’s OK beforehand.

The Association issued its advice because it says that many heart patients don’t think twice about climbing stairs, but worry that sexual activity will bring on another attack.

Fear Westminster is sinking

MPs are to discuss selling the Palace of Westminster amid concerns over its long-term future.

Subsidence caused by work on Parliament’s underground car park and the construction of new Tube tunnels have led to cracks appearing in walls around the Houses of Commons and Lords, with Big Ben’s bell tower leaning 18in at its peak.

There are even fears the building could sink into the Thames.