Basil Brush very aggressive Scottish hedgehog also made by Peter Firmin. In the mid-1960s Basil became a supporting act for the magician David Nixon, upstaging Nixon on the latter's BBC1 show "Nixon at Nine-Five" in 1967 and "The Nixon Line" (1967–68), to such good effect that the fox was offered his own show. Basil thus acquired his own television series on the BBC, "The Basil Brush Show", which ran for 12 years from 1968 until 1980, in which he was supported by various famous stooges: first, in 1968, by the actor Rodney Bewes, known on the show as "Mr Rodney"; next, from
John Milner (magician) the young magicians who entertained the Magic Circle. The following year, he again reached the final of the Young Magician competition, performing the "vanishing skateboard". As a finish to his Young Magician's act, James produced a stack of goldfish bowls. Both Following the Young Magician competition, John and James appeared together on Central TV News. In the early 1980s, John was a full-time professional magician working with known actors and entertainers such as Ken Dodd, Danny La Rue, Tommy Steele, Bernard Manning, Frank Carson and Leslie Crowther. John's acting credits include: ATV: Crossroads, The Jensen Code, The Kids from 47A,