LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS... welcome to the big top blog of Douglas McPherson, author of CIRCUS MANIA, the book described by Gerry Cottle as "A passionate and up-to-date look at the circus and its people."

Wednesday 13 June 2018

Off to the circus!


With his bags and unicycle, Bobbo heads
for the circus!

Following his summer season on Clacton seafront last year, Bobbo Roberts will this year be wowing families in the rural surroundings of Billing Aquadome leisure park in Northampton.

It was circus matriarch Tanya Mack who put Bobbo forward for the Clacton pier show and this year she's booked him for her own Circus Funtastic, which runs from July 23 - September 27.

Here's what the funny man had to say:

“They say you can shake the sawdust out of your socks but not your heart so with that in mind, after being on Clacton pier last summer where he had so much fun in the sun, Bobbo is puting  his motley and clobber on again in a whole new adventure in Billing Acqadrome Circus.

“As most of my family is from Northampton I’m looking forward to going to the library and finding out as much as I can about my family. As I’m fond of saying, the Roberts and Fossetts don't have a family tree, we’ve got a forest  - and I’m one of the nuts who have fallen from the tree.

“I might have gone on a different branch but my roots remain in circus, and I might be barking up the wrong tree but I’m looking forward to this new challenge and hope I can get to try and sneak in some of my new gags that I've been working on. A clown is very much like a plant - it needs water (an audience) to branch out and grow.”

Click here to find out how he got on!


Bobbo catches up with his reading
- Circus Mania, of course!
Diary of a Clown - Part One
Click here to read about Bobbo's adventures on Clacton Pier last year.

Sunday 10 June 2018

When Rick Astley met Philip Astley (sort of)



I always wondered if 80s singer Rick Astley was a descendant of Philip Astley, the equestrian who founded the modern circus 250 years ago this year. It seems not, since Philip had only one son, who never had children of his own - which also explains why you don't come across many, if any, Astley's in the modern circus.

Rick did briefly run away with the circus, however, in this video for his 1991 single Never Knew Love.

My thanks to actor and ringmaster Chris Barltrop for bringing it my attention. The clip was filmed in the Circus Berlin big top in London's Acton Park with performers including Rani, a well-known elephant on the scene at the time.

Barltrop features in the video as ringmaster.

Chris Barltrop
as Philip Astley
Today, Barltrop is keeping the Astley name alive (Philip that is, not Rick!) with his one man show, The Audacious Mr Astley. Find out more, here.

And click here for 15 Facts about the Father of the Circus.


Friday 8 June 2018

The Vegan Agenda - Why Circuses Were Just The Thin Edge of the Wedge

Warning from the big top








For decades now, campaigners such as ADI (Animal Defenders International) and Peta (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) have been saying that circus animals are cruelly treated. And it's worked. Animals have been gradually squeezed out of the circus ring on both sides of the Atlantic by local legislation that prevented circuses operating in prime municipally owned venues and, increasingly, national bans, such as the one has has this month come into force in Scotland.

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus, the self-proclaimed Greatest Show on Earth and arguably most iconic circus in the world, was forced to close after more than a century because of such legislation.

The evidence does not support these bans. In 2007, the UK government-commissioned Radford report found circuses were as capable of meeting their animals' needs as zoos or other captive environments. Since 2012, a licensing scheme has regulated the use of wild animals in circuses and has produced no evidence of mistreatment.

The government has announced, however, that when the licensing scheme expires it will not be extended, bringing in a ban by default.

Why are circus animals being banned if there's no evidence that they are intrinsically cruel?

Martin Burton
When I interviewed Zippos owner Martin Burton for my book Circus Mania he explained that the campaigners were motivated by a deeper agenda: they didn't believe people should even keep pets or eat meat.

At the time, I confess that I didn't fully connect the dots. Yes, I thought, anti-circus campaigners may well be anti-vivisectionists and vegetarians and so on... but I couldn't see that side of their agenda catching on with the wider public. It's one thing to support a campaign against perceived or alleged cruelty (whether proven or just suggested) another to turn your back on meat and pets.

In the last couple of years, however, the mass media push for veganism has been impossible to miss. You can't open a newspaper or magazine without reading about a new meat-free business or recipes for meat-free meals.

Today the circus,
Tommorow...?
Protests against fast food restaurants, supermarkets and local butchers are becoming as familiar as the demonstrations that were once confined to circuses. I have seen full-page national newspaper adverts against milk production, which shows how well-funded and/or connected the vegan lobby is.

The anti-circus campaigners, meanwhile, are revealing their wider hand. At the foot of a press release that came my way today, ADI outlined its mission:

Active worldwide to end the suffering of animals: animals in entertainment – film, television, advertising, circuses, and sport or leisure; animals used for food or fur; protection of wildlife and the environment; trade in animals; zoos, pets, entertainment, and laboratories.

Note the words "food" and "pets" - there for all to see.

It's very similar to Peta's slogan, as displayed on its website:

ANIMALS ARE NOT OURSto eat, wear, experiment on, use forentertainment or abuse in any other way

The ADI press release was in support of a film called Anima, in which representatives from 12 religions talk about changing our attitudes to meat.

According to one of the participants, Rabbi Singer: “Our belief in Judaism is that God never actually meant us to eat animals,” explaining “In the Garden of Eden, God shows us the fruit of the trees, the grass in the fields, and says ‘You may have any of this to eat.’ But God never mentioned animals.”

ADI president Jan Creamer, meanwhile, has this to say: “Millions of people across the world draw their beliefs and perceptions about the other species who share our planet, from their faith. There has never been a more important time to challenge themisunderstandings which have, in the past, been used to justify exploitation of animals. As Dr Lo Sprague says in ANIMA, every religion has compassion as part of its mandate. It is time to mobilize that.”


The film appears to say nothing about circuses, but the fact it is being promoted by ADI proves what the circus industry has been telling us all along: that the massive fundraising campaigns built around 'circus cruelty' were never really about circus cruelty at all, just part of a wider agenda.

As the post-circus campaign for worldwide veganism unfolds around us, it's a shame the warnings from the big top mostly fell on deaf ears.