A local 17-year-old has been named one of the UK’s fastest growing YouTubers – and he’s achieved it all from his home in Oldham.
Self-taught magician Daniel Rhodes has been honing his craft for nearly 10 years.
Since discovering his talent for magic at aged eight, Daniel – from Shaw – has gone on to build up a huge online following, appearing on several TV talent shows and earning himself some worthy celebrity fans.
Dan has even been championed by one of the UK’s most famous magicians, Dynamo, who named him as an upcoming magician to keep an eye on.
Dynamo said: “There’s a young kid called Daniel Rhodes. Dan Dan the Magic Man. He’s from Manchester, he’s about 10-years-old, he sent me a YouTube clip of him doing some of his magic and I thought ‘that’s alright, that’s alright’ and he did this thing at the end [that] took everyone in my office by surprise.
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“It was amazing.”
Credit: YouTube (Dan Rhodes)
Daniel has lived up to the future superstar predictions by starring on one of the US’s most popular entertainment shows, Little Big Shots, when he was just 13, and by also competing on the 2019 series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, where he was memorably seen ‘sawing’ judge Amanda Holden in half.
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The Oldham teen began performing when he got a magic kit for Christmas one year, and admits that magic has truly “changed my life”.
If all of those achievements weren’t impressive enough, Daniel’s greatest success is arguably his ever-growing online fanbase, where he has racked up a whopping 3.8 million subscribers and counting on YouTube, and 5.5 million followers on video sharing platform TikTok.
His channels have had more than three billion views over the past two months alone, and he is undeniably on his way to becoming one of the country’s most successful content creators.
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It’s no surprise that Daniel feels the future of his career is online.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPLJ3KRh4nE/
Speaking proudly about his achievements, Daniel’s mum Lisa told the MEN: “From an early age, Dan has had a passion for magic.
“I remember him being sat in front of YouTube at about 8 years old, just watching the likes of Dynamo over and over again with a pack of cards in his hand, mastering how the tricks where done, over and over again until he mastered it
“He hasn’t stopped since.
“His drive and ambition and love for the art is second to none and I am more than sure he will continue to succeed in everything he does.”
First batch of special releases for Record Store Day UK 2026 announced
Danny Jones
Yes, it’s nearly time for Record Store Day 2026, and the list of the first dozen or so limited edition releases here in the UK has just been announced.
With a fair few familiar and, more importantly, Northern names on there (but of course), #RSDUK26 is set to be another great one.
A total of 15 songs have been named on the lineup for this year so far, and yet again, the drops are in support of War Child, who will also be hosting a number of very special and intimate charity gigs during BRITs Week.
The two organisations have collaborated for the sixth time after having first joined forces back in 2020, and it feels like both the annual observance and its catalogue have only got better ever since.
Plenty that have caught our attention already, and there’s only more set to come…
As detailed in the post on social media, the Record Store Day team have retierated that “£1 from every single copy sold of these releases will be donated to the charity, helping to protect, educate, and stand up for the rights of the children who are living through conflict around the world.”
We quickly noticed the likes of The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, Kaiser Chiefs, Mark Knopfler and Bring Me The Horizon, just to name a few.
Once more, here is the RSD 2026 release list in full:
Record Store Day release list | 2026
Corinne Bailey Rae – Live In New York
The Cure – Greatest Hits and Acoustic Hits (compilations)
Divorce – Live at Get Together 2025 for War Child
Dr Feelgood – Oily City Confidential (OST)
Fleetwood Mac – The Original Fleetwood Mac (compilation)
James Dean Bradfield – The Great Western
Kaiser Chiefs – The Future Is Medieval
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – ‘All The Roadrunning’
Nicky Wire – Intimism
Primal Scream – Echo Dek
Rory Gallagher – Calling Card
Sigrid x BMTH – ‘Bad Life’
The Streets – Computers & Blues
The Vaccines – What Did You Expect…. Demos and B-sides
As always, all of these titles will be available behind the counter exclusively at indie record shops all over the country on Saturday, 18 April to celebrate Record Store Day UK 2026.
Oh, and if you need help with where to start, look no further.
Harry Styles announced as latest performer at the 2026 BRIT Awards
Danny Jones
Yes, in what is set to be his Co-op Live debut (yes, the venue he’s literally invested in), Harry Styles has been confirmed as the latest blockbuster performer at this year’s BRITs.
The lineup for the 2026 BRIT Awards was already pretty stacked, but this just takes the cake.
Not long after FINALLY announcing his fourth album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally and releasing the new lead single, ‘Aperture’, the Cheshire-born singer-songwriter is coming to the Co-op Live arena for the very first time as part of the ceremony’s live music lineup.
Absolute scenes. Screaming, crying, throwing up.
we've got news… Harry's coming home 💋🪩@Harry_Styles will be making his live TV performance debut of music from his new album 'Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.' at The BRIT Awards 2026
Watch the performance live Saturday 28th February on ITV1 & ITVX in the UK and on… pic.twitter.com/Aax3lV03xM
The 31-year-old former One Direction member turned solo artist and global megastar recently revealed a raft of live shows this coming May (and there’s been plenty of discussion surrounding ticket prices), but he’s sadly overlooked Manchester for now.
However, anyone who already secured a seat at the first-ever BRITs here in Manchester will no doubt be doing cartwheels now following the announcement.
As if that wasn’t a mega enough name, he will be joining the likes of the wonderful, already award-winning and fellow multi-time nominee, Olivia Dean.
As quite literally two of the biggest musicians on the planet right now, we couldn’t pick a better roster if we dreamed it up ourselves.
Speaking of Ms Dean, she is also one of several acts confirmed to be playing a series of intimate acts across the country – and her’s is right here in Manchester.
You can see the full lineup of gigs HERE – all we’ll say is that there’s some seriously big hitters playing very small capacity venues on this list.
What a great few weeks for music, eh?
Taking place on Sunday, 28 February, public tickets for the show unfortunately sold out some time ago for what will also be his first-ever live musical TV performance.
Perhaps his booking is at least partly why we haven’t got a standalone Harry Styles Manchester gig on the ‘Together, Together’ tour, but we’re still keeping everything crossed that he’ll announce a second leg of shows here in the UK.
You’d think he’d fancy properly headlining the gaff he helped pay for, or maybe a return to the Etihad Stadium across the way, right?
Find the complete shortlist of nominees, as well as the rest of the live music lineup for the 2026 BRITs ceremony here in Manchester, down below; and if you see on screen trying to clutch at Harry’s ankles, we’re sure you’ll understand…
Emily Sergeant -
21st June 2021 
