The elephants parade through streets lined with onlookers, when the circus came to town in Lincoln in the 1950s. It's a sight unlikely to be seen again in the UK, especially now that the government has announced its intention to ban wild animals from the big top from the start of 2020. The ban has been hanging over the circus industry since 2012 when licensing regulations were introduced as an interim measure.
Only two British circuses, Circus Mondao and Peter Jolly's Circus still use wild animals, in the form of lamas, camels, zebras and snakes, so the chance to see the elephants and lions of old seems to have already passed.
I was lucky to see the last elephants and big cats to appear on British sawdust, and you can read about my experiences watching the animals and interviewing their trainers - alongside a host of clowns, acrobats, escapologists and circus owners - in Circus Mania, a book the Mail on Sunday called "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form."
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