Circus Fantasia in Mildenhall

Circus Fantasia big top

Roll up, roll up to Circus Fantasia at Mildenhall on the A11 Newmarket Road from Feb 25 to March 1. Tickets and times: 0844 888 9991.

Behind the big top we find this traditional
Scammell circus truck

And out front, the ticket wagon

And if you like big tops and circus transport... 

Click here to see how Pinders Circus travelled 100-years ago.

Click here to see how they move the Chinese State Circus

Click here for snowy scenes on the set of BBC sitcom Big Top.

Click here to see the Russell's International Circus big top going up.

And to find out what life is like for those who run away with the circus, click here to buy Circus Mania - the Ultimate Book for Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus!

Circus Mondao - inside the real big top with Britain's oldest circus family

Circus Mondao in the Weekly News

Going through the archives, I found the above full-page article that I wrote for the Weekly News shortly before Circus Mania came out. The BBC's new circus comedy series Big Top, starring Ruth Madoc and Amanda Holden, had just debuted on television, so it seemed a good time to take a look inside the real big top of Circus Mondao. Run by sisters Carol MacManus and Gracie Timmis, who's family have been in the circus since the early 1800s, the traditional show was spending Christmas at the Elvenden Estate on the edge of Norfolk's Thetford Forest.

I was pleased with the photo selection, including the shot of Carol, ringmistress Petra Jackson and Gracie's daughters riding horses in a My Fair Lady routine. Sitting at ring side as the spotted horses came into the spotlights was one of the magical memories of the night I saw them there. It's also good to see the picture of the circus' camels being exercised on Whitby beach - proof that a circus animal's life isn't purely one of confinement. On the day I visited Circus Mondao in Elvenden, Petra had just returned from taking the camels for a long run through the Forest. Not a walk - "proper camel running," she proudly reported.

Another striking memory from Elvenden was of young clown Bippo sliding almost the whole width of the ring on his belly during a gloriously wet and messy slosh routine. He must have froze in the weeks to come, because soon after my visit the snow fell, heavily, and stayed throughout the Christmas period. It must have been tough on the performers, because the tent was none too warm when I was there. But as Carol said, when I asked her about working over the holiday season, their only day off Christmas Day itself, "This is our life. If we weren't working, what else would we do?"

Little did I know that during that chilly yuletide, love was blossoming beneath the snow-capped canopy of the light-bedecked big top. Bippo had met German Wheel star Lucy Ladbrooke in a previous engagement at the Yarmouth Hippodrome. They'd kept up a romance by phone as work took Lucy to a holiday resort in Turkey. Back from Europe, she got a job at Elvendon, dressed as an elf and selling Christmas trees so the couple could be together.

The following season, she joined Circus Mondao and, later that year I was able to write a follow-up piece in the Weekly News about Bippo's proposal in the circus ring.

From circus ring to wedding ring
Bippo pops the question

Read the full story of Britain's oldest circus family and Bippo, the boy who ran away with the circus, in Circus Mania, described by the Mail on Sunday as "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form."

Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon.

Click here to read my review of the Circus Mondao pantomime!

Zippos rides into Scotland - Roman style!

Nicky de Neumann
riding Roman style

The word circus dates from ancient Rome when arenas such as the Circus Maximus were host to hair-raising chariot races.

Zippos will be bringing a touch of the Roman hippodrome to the modern circus when it arrives in Glasgow this week, in the form of Nicky de Neumann’s daredevil horse-riding.

Nicky, seen here riding Roman style, with a foot on each horse, grew up in Croydon where her parents apparently couldn’t afford to buy her a pony, so she learned to ride with the local Gypsies. She’s been putting on a wild show ever since, having even appeared as the gun-toting cowgirl Annie Oakley in a wild west display at Euro Disney.

Joining Nicky in the sawdust circle at Glasgow’s Queen’s Park from June 11 - 16, before the Zippos tent moves on to the city’s Victoria Park (18 -23) and then Edinburgh (26 - 30) are Cuban acrobats and a strongman called Hercules who likes having a car driven over his chest.

There will be more stunt riding - on roaring motorbikes - in the Globe of Death, while Britain’s most distinguished ringmaster, Norman Barrett MBE, presents his famous budgies.

To book your seat, call 0871 210 2100.

The Zippos showgirls waiting to go on.

(Both photos: Piet-Hein Out, courtesy of Zippos)

Backstage at Zippos

But what’s life like behind the red velvet curtain of the Zippos big top?

Read an in-depth interview with showman Martin Burton in Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book for Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus.

In a chapter on Zippos, Burton talks about:

- His journey from Covent Garden street clown to owner of Britain’s most popular traditional circus.

- The on-going battle with animal rights protestors.

- Behind-the-scenes secrets of BBC1’s Amanda Holden sitcom Big Top.

- His Academy of Circus Arts in which YOU can learn how to be a circus star while travelling around the country putting on shows in a real big top.

Circus Mania is available in paperback or as an ebook from Amazon, or direct from Peter Owen Publishers for £10 including post and packing in the UK (Add £2.75 for overseas orders). Send cheques to:

Peter Owen Publishers
81 Ridge Road
London N8 9NP

And may all your days be circus days!

Coming soon on Circus Mania:
June 15 is World Juggling Day - Read 15 Facts about Juggling on Thursday June 13.
On Monday June 17, roll up, roll up for The Glory Days of Chipperfields - Europe's largest animal circus!

Inside the BBC's Big Top with Amanda Holden

Lights!

Camera!

Action!


Digging through the archives, I found these behind-the-camera pictures from the making of the 2009 BBC 1 circus sitcom Big Top.
Set in the fictional Circus Maestro, the series starred Amanda Holden as ringmistress Lizzie, alongside Ruth Madoc and Tony Robinson. As these pictures show, the location shots were filmed in the big top normally occupied by Zippos' travelling circus school, the Academy of Circus Arts.

Click here to read more on the making and reception of Big Top.

"Brilliant"
- Mail on Sunday

And for the full backstage story of what life's like in the circus, including a chapter on Zippos and the making of the BBC's sitcom Big Top read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With The Circus.

(Big Top photos courtesy of Zippos Circus)

From Zippos to Maestro

My previous post with a picture of a Pinder’s Circus lorry in the 1930s, reminded me of these pictures of more recent circus transport.


When the BBC made the 2009 sitcom Big Top it borrowed Zippos smaller tent, which is normally used by the circus’ travelling Academy of Circus Arts, and some of its lorries, all of which were re-branded with the name of the fictional Circus Maestro.

Starring Amanda Holden, Ruth Madoc and Tony Robinson, Big Top got a reception from the critics as frosty as these wintry scenes.

But although it was a big flop, the show looked fantastic with every backstage scene and caravan interior filled with atmospheric detail.



Click here to read more on the making and critical reception of Big Top.

And buy Circus Mania for a full chapter on the show and an in-depth interview in which Zippos director Martin Burton tells the story of his journey from Covent Garden street clown to owner of Britain's most popular traditional circus.

Visit Zippos!
 www.zipposcircus.co.uk

Click here to read about life in the real big top with Britain's oldest circus family.

Circus Mania review - "The Greatest Show on Earth... in a book!"

The headline says it all!
Circus Mania reviewed in World's Fair

For a great start to the New Year, my thanks are due to showman’s newspaper World’s Fair for a fantastic review of Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed Of Running Away With The Circus! Here’s what they wrote:

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH... IN A BOOK!

The graft and passion of the circus industry won’t need highlighting to regular World’s Fair readers but those hungry for an all access pass into this extraordinary world should scribble Circus Mania at the top of their wishlist.

Circus couldn’t be a more applicable subject for Douglas McPherson’s first book as he hops from one chapter to the next like a constant flow of acts in a circus programme, kicking into touch any notion of a dying art form with every page.

With such a dense and rich history to pick from, McPherson delivers a concise yet elaborate summary of the circus industry featuring accurate accounts from those who have built their lives around the sawdust circle.

Eva Garcia
who's tragic death
inspired
Circus Mania

For all the childlike fantasy surrounding the idea of running away with the circus, just how arduous that life can be is laid out early on with the meeting of Eva Garcia, a wirewalker-cum-aerial silk performer who finishes with her boyfriend of nine years to travel the globe.

“It’s very tough, mentally and physically,” she reveals, “but I couldn’t give up my life, I’m still too young.” The following Thursday, Eva plummets 30ft to her death at Great Yarmouth’s Hippodrome.

Much of Circus Mania serves as a panoramic peek behind the velvet curtain, covering every imaginable aspect of what goes on behind the scenes. The incredible feats achieved by the acts during showtime could be considered a mre sideshow when viewed alongside the indomitable exuberance of Circus Hilarious’ Clive Webb (post quadruple heart bypass) or the freakish idiocy only a Circus of Horrors audition call could conjure.

BBC’s Big Top, Cirque du Soleil and the unavoidable matter of animal welfare are also explored. During a section surrounding Martin Lacey’s Great British Circus, McPherson bemoans the misunderstanding of persistent campaigners, notably detailing the ‘hypnotic grace’ with which Lacey’s elephants parade and how ‘it’s hard not to believe the tigers enjoy themselves.’

The otherworldly expedition, Douglas McPherson’s in-depth knowledge and obvious enthusiasm makes Circus Mania an unmissable read for anyone with the slightest tinge of circus curiosity.
.......................................................................................

CIRCUS MANIA

If that review makes you want to read Circus Mania, click here to buy the new updated 2nd Edition from Amazon.



WORLD’S FAIR

You may also like to consider a subscription to World’s Fair, the national weekly newspaper of the fairground and circus industry. It’s a great read and great to look at, stuffed as it is with full colour pictures of fairground rides, circuses, showman’s wagons and historic lorries and buses. UK subscriptions are £48 per year (£25 for six months) and can be ordered on 0161 683 8006. They’ll also be happy to supply back issues.