Muhammad Ali: Shropshire family remember the night The Greatest performed magic for them
A Shropshire man has recalled the moment Muhammad Ali performed a magic trick for him during a chance encounter at an hotel in the boxer's home town.
Paul Rushworth met the boxing legend, who died on Sunday, when his son Joe was performing at a magicians' convention in Louisville, Kentucky, 10 years ago.
Joe, who was 16 at the time, had been invited to perform in the US city after previously reaching the final of the Young Magician of the Year contest in London.
Paul, himself a professional magician, and his father Geoff, also an illusionist, also attended the conference.
He decided to visit the newly opened Muhammad Ali Museum in the city.
"There's not a lot to do in Louisville, so we went to the museum," said Paul, now 60, of St James Road in Belvidere, Shrewsbury.
"I asked the man on the door if Ali lives in town, and he said 'no, but there are rumours that he is gonna relocate here'," he said.
On their return to the hotel, they noticed there was a bit of commotion in the foyer.
Paul couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Ali and his wife, Lonnie Williams.
"I knew somebody was there because of all the excitement, but I couldn't believe it when I came face to face with him," he said.
By that time, the boxer was already in declining health as a result of his battle with Parkinson's Disease.
"He had a walking frame, and he couldn't really speak," said Paul.
"He knew it was a magicians' convention at the hotel, so he showed us this trick where turned a 10-dollar bill into a 20-dollar one.
"People clapped him, but he then had to show us how it was done, because his religion frowns up on him actually tricking people."
Paul recalls how his father Geoff, now 82, showed him a few card tricks of his own.
"My dad didn't take much persuading, and he would always have a pack of cards with him.
"We then had our photographs taken with him. My dad had worked on many cruise ships and had performed for people such as Priscilla Presley, but that was the only time I have ever seen him star struck. He was the most famous man on the planet.
"In the next room, the sportsmen's bar, there was a very famous giant photo of him in his heyday, in the ring standing over a boxer he had just knocked to the floor and screaming at him to 'get up'.
Paul can still remember was how fragile Ali was.
"It was very sad to see him in the state he was in," he said.
