Cirque du Soleil to set up home in London

Is London about to get a permanent circus building?

Canadian circus giant Cirque du Soleil is in the process of making the capital’s Saville Theatre its UK base.

The theatre, which was turned into a cinema in 1970 has been bought by Yoo Capital which has teamed up with Soleil to restore the 110,000 sq ft, grade II-listed building.

Eric Grilly, president of resident and affiliate show divisions at Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, said “We see a unique opportunity to bring back live entertainment to a beloved venue with fresh content and new ideas.”

Lloyd Lee, managing partner at Yoo Capital, said, “Yoo Capital is thrilled to have the opportunity to restore the theatre’s original purpose as a live performance space in partnership with the world’s most reputable live performers, Cirque du Soleil, who have chosen to explore the potential for the Saville to be their first ever permanent experience in London.”

Before circuses travelled in big tops, they were staged in temporary or permanent buildings. The grandest was Astley's Amphitheatre. Known throughout upmarket society simply as Astley's, the landmark venue was mentioned in novels by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

The last circus building still in use for its original purpose is the Yarmouth Hippodrome. But London may be about to get a new one.

 

Death of a Strongman, Khalil Oghab, Father of the Iranian Circus

When Gerry Cottle passed away in 2021, I naturally called his long time associate 'Doktor' John Haze, founder of the Circus of Horrors, for some insights into Cottle's career.

Haze attributed Cottle's success to some of the unique acts that featured in Gerry Cottle's Circus. In particular, he singled out strongman Khalil Oghaby, who would stand on a platform and lift a baby elephant - a feat for which he is still in the Guinness World of Records today.

Ironically, just a week after Haze left this world (more info here), Oghaby has passed away at the age of 98.

Known as the Hercules of Persia, Oghab (whose name was spelt Oghaby in the UK) came to fame by staging Iran's first strongman shows. As many as 50,000 people would pay to watch him toss weights over his head with his teeth and allow buses and trucks to drive over him.

In the 1970s, Oghab starred in Duffy's Circus in Ireland and then Gerry Cottle's Circus in the UK, where he also appeared in the Saturday evening TV show Seaside Special, broadcast from Cottle's big top.

Cottle called him, "Probably the best act I ever had."

In 1991, Oghab returned to his homeland where he founded the country's first circus and became known as the Father of the Iranian Circus.

For more on this story, read the Gerry Cottle Story, here.

 

Circus Cortex tours with cast of Ukrainian refugees

Talk about a human pyramid! Fresh from a Christmas season in Cairo, Egypt, Circus Cortex has just begun its British big top tour in Sheffield - a month later than planned because its cast of almost entirely Ukrainian artistes went home to visit their families and renew their visas... and found themselves in a war zone when Russia invaded.

Some are still there, conscripted into the military, others have undertook harrowing journeys out of Ukraine and the company has recruited Ukrainian replacements who were in other countries when war broke out.

Putting on a show, while worrying about loved ones hiding in bunkers miles away, the circus stars will be touring until their final show at Clacton on 30 August. Proof that the show always does go on.

For the full list of dates, click here.

You can read my interview with Corcus Cortex director Irina Archer, and the story of how the circus industry has rallied around its Ukrainian colleagues during the war, in this article in today's edition of The Stage. Click here.

For the latest news on the circus reopening its doors in Ukraine, click here.

For a behind-the-scenes journey through the contemporary circus scene, with reviews of circuses of all types, both traditional and modern, plus interviews with big top owners and performers from clowns and sword-swallowers to trapeze artists and tiger trainers, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book for Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus!

 

Britain's first drive-in circus opens Sunday

Paulos Circus has announced a change of date for the opening of Britain's first drive-in circus.

The Back 2 The 80s Drive-in Show, staged by Paulos Circus, is will now open on Sunday 19 July and run through to 31 August in Newquay, Cornwall, with a stage, screens, socially distanced car parking and a specially designed 80s-style soundtrack.


For bookings, visit the Paulos Facebook page.

For details of other circuses hitting the road post-lockdown, including Circus Wonderland and Uncle Sam's Great American Circus, click here.

Site preparations for
Britain's first drive-in circus

Post updated 13 July
Having originally scheduled opening night for 16 July, Paulos Circus has since delayed opening until Sunday 19 July.

The day the circus marched on Downing Street

These are pictures of a circus march to 10 Downing Street to demand that the government either includes Britain's circuses in its bailout of theatre venues, or lifts the lockdown restrictions to let big tops reopen and start earning a living again.

The protesters attempted to deliver to Prime Minister Boris Johnson a letter from the Association of Circus Proprietors, which represents 18 circuses and around 500 performers.

ACP chairman and Zippos founder Martin Burton told the news crews who covered the march: "Sadly, circuses seem to have fallen through the cracks of all the rescue package schemes - we pay rent to individual landowners as we tour - and do not have business rateable properties.

"In addition, no commercial circuses have qualified for the any of the £160m emergency Arts Council funding despite generating significant income to the economy through the 30-plus UK circuses and internationally visiting shows such as Cirque du Soleil which combined are seen by around 20 million people a year."

"Its greatest slogan 'the show must go on' could well become a thing of the past if urgent assistance is not forthcoming."

Britain's circuses have been closed since the lockdown in March and remain so while easing of restrictions in other sectors has in recent weeks seen thousands of day trippers cram onto Britain's beaches and, since the reopening of pubs on Saturday 4 July, crowds of drinkers pack shoulder to shoulder in Soho with no regard for social distancing.

As circus insiders such as ringmaster Chris Barltrop have pointed out, Britain's travelling circuses are better equipped to implement social distancing precautions during performances than many permanent venues. The sides of a big top can be opened for greater air movement or reconfigured to provide any number of exits, while the seating can be spaced as required. Additionally, circus performers are largely non-verbal so there is less risk of COVID-19 being spread by airborne droplets (a risk that has been attributed to performances including actors, singers and wind instruments).

Because circus companies live together on site, and travel together, it's possible to categorise them as a family bubble, negating the need for social distancing between the performers themselves. In many cases, individual acts comprise actual family units - something seldom the case in other branches of the performing arts.

UPDATE: 10 July, 2020
The government has since announced that 'outdoor theatre' can resume from 11 July. That includes circuses, although subject to meeting the social distancing and other requirements of the individual local authorities where they perform.

Gandeys is the first big top show to announce dates, with a Halloween show in October. Click here to read more.

Paulos, meanwhile, launches Britain's first drive-in circus on 16 July. Click here for more.

The locked-down circus goes on... online!

The Big Kid Circus was built up on Morecambe seafront in the UK, about to launch its new show Circus de Cuba, when the country was locked down. Unable to open to the public, they've put their show online instead...

Watch the full show here.

Wild animals banned from English circuses

News coverage of one of the last elephants
to appear in an English circus - in 1999

The House of Lords has today approved a ban on wild animals in English circuses that will come into effect in January 2020.

The ban defines 'wild' as animals not native to Britain so includes elephants, tigers, camels and reindeer, although horses and dogs will continue to feature in the big top.

The ban follows an existing ban in Scotland, while the Welsh government is planning to introduce similar measures in Wales.

For a history of the more than 100-year campaign to ban animals from the big top, click here.

Today's news comes ten years after I saw the last circus elephants and tigers to perform in England, at the Great British Circus. You can read about that experience in my book, Circus Mania, which the Mail on Sunday called "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form."

Click here to buy from Amazon.

20 Circus Facts for World Circus Day, 20 April, 2024

Roll up, roll up... for World Circus Day!

Saturday 20 April 2022 will be the 14th World Circus Day. To celebrate, here are 20 fabulous facts about the sawdust circle.

1 - The word circus dates from Roman times when arenas such as the Circus Maximus staged chariot races, gladiatorial contests and mock battles.

2 - The modern circus was founded in London by trick horse-rider Philip Astley, who opened his Amphitheatre of Equestrian Arts in London, in 1768.

3 - Astley’s rival Charles Hughes was the first to use the word circus in the modern sense when he founded the Royal Circus.

4 - A standard circus ring is 42-feet in diameter.

5 - Clowns are nicknamed Joeys after 19th century pantomime star Joseph Grimaldi.

6 - Leotards are named after the first star of the flying trapeze, Jules Leotard.

7 - The word jumbo, meaning large, entered the English language because of Jumbo, an 11-foot-tall elephant that the American showman PT Barnum bought from London Zoo.

8 - The traditional circus theme music is called Entrance of the Gladiators.

9 - Charlie Cairoli was the first clown to appear on This Is Your Life.

10 - Chinese acrobats first appeared in European circuses in 1866.

11 - Cirque du Soleil was created as part of the 1984 celebrations to mark the 450th anniversary of Jacques Cartier’s discovery of Canada.

12 - Enrico Rastelli (1896 - 1931) is widely considered greatest juggler of all time, being able to juggle ten balls at once.

13 - The first American circus was founded by John Bill Ricketts in Philadelphia on April 3, 1793.

14 - A ‘josser’ is an outsider who joins the circus.

15 - According to circus superstition, it’s unlucky to wear green in the ring.

16 - Foot-juggling with a person is known as a Risley act after the 19th century American pioneer of the style Richard Risley Carlisle.

17 - The mischievous clown in a double act is called the ‘auguste’ and the straight man is the ‘whiteface.’

18 - The word clown is believed to come from the Icelandic word klunni, meaning a clumsy person.

19 - The first elephant to appear in a British circus performed at Covent Garden in 1810.

20- Joshua Purdy Brown staged the first circus in a tent or big top in America in 1825. Before that, circuses were performed in buildings or the open air.

2nd Edition out now!

For more on the history of circus, and the lives of today’s performers, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With the Circus by Douglas McPherson.

“Circus Mania is a brilliant account of a vanishing art form.”
- Mail on Sunday.

“The Greatest Show on Earth... in a Book!”
- World’s Fair.

Click here to buy the paperback or ebook from Amazon.

And may all your days be circus days!

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.

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.

New plaque marks site of the first circus

2018 is the 250th anniversary of the very first circus, and to mark the occasion, Lambeth Residents Association have installed a blue plaque as close as possible to the site of the very first ring, which was established by Philip Astley, the Father of the Circus, in 1768.

Chris Barltrop as Philp Astley

The plaque was unveiled on Easter Monday by ringmaster and circus historian Chris Barltrop, who was dressed as Astley and added to the celebrations by performing his one man play The Audacious Mr Astley.

Astley, of course, was a horseman, famed for brandishing his sword while standing atop of a galloping horse, and so there were naturally horses on hand, too, ridden by the Khadikov Riders from Zippos circus, which is currently resident in Blackheath.

The plaque, which also commemorates Astley's wife Patty, herself a horsewoman who performed in his shows, is located at Cornwall Road, in Waterloo. The unveiling was followed by a residents' street party.

For details of where Chris Barltrop will be performing The Audacious Mr Astley in future, visit www.centreforcircusculture.eu

For 15 Facts about Philip Astley, the Father of the Circus, click here.

The Khadikov Riders

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson on TV

My thanks to Fabiana Cacace at That's Norfolk TV for interviewing me about Circus Mania, the stories that inspired the book, Norwich and Great Yarmouth's historical claim to be jointly one of the Six Cities of Circus, and the new updated edition of Circus Mania released to celebrate 250 years of life and death in the sawdust circle.

To read the incredible tales of acrobats, clowns, sword-swallowers, tiger-trainers and showmen that I discovered while writing Circus Mania, click here to buy the book the Mail on Sunday called "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form."

Norwich Castle lit up for First Day of Circus

(Credit: Norwich Evening News)

Here's Norwich Castle lit up with Sir Peter Blake's Circus250 logo to celebrate the birth of the circus, 250 years ago on 9 January, 1768. And when BBC Radio Norfolk announced the light show on the 4pm news... they included a sound bite from "Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson...!"

The quote was taken from my earlier on-air chat with Stephen Bumfrey. You can listen to the whole interview here (I'm on just after the 3pm news, introduced, naturally, with that unmistakable piece of circus music Entrance of the Gladiators!)

In our wide-ranging chat about all things circus, we talked about Norwich's own historical circus star Pablo Fanque - Britain's first black circus proprietor during the 19th century - and Stephen played the Beatles song Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite, which was inspired by John Lennon coming across a poster for Pablo Fanque's circus in an antique shop window.

Click here to read 15 Facts about Philip Astley - the man who invented the circus!

First Day of Circus to light up Britain for Circus250

The Great Yarmouth Hippodrome
will be lit up for #firstcircusday

Today, January 9, marks the 250th anniversary of the very first circus, and the Six Cities of Circus will be lighting up Britain by projecting the Sir Peter Blake-designed Circus250 logo on prominent buildings including Norwich Castle, the Blackpool Tower, the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome, the Derry Walls in Belfast, the We Are Curious science centre in Bristol and the Guildhall in Newcastle-under-Lyme, where Philip Astley, the inventor of the circus was born.

The illuminations are expected to begin at about 4.20pm when it gets dark.

Circus fans and circus companies, meanwhile, will be marking the launch of the year-long Circus250 celebrations by taking to social media to share news of their plans, coming events and all things circus under the hashtags #firstdayofcircus and #Circus250.

The Six Cities of Circus are:

www.circus250.org

Newcastle-under-Lyme - Birthplace of Philip Astley, the Father of the Circus as we know it. Click here to read 15 Facts about him. NoFit State Circus premieres their new in-the-ring show Lexicon under their big top in March and Astley’s Astounding Adventures – specially commissioned for Circus250 year - opens at New Vic Theatre in July.

London - Birthplace of Philip Astley‘s first circus - the first circus in the world, in fact! - and home of the National Centre for Circus Arts (Read all about the former Circus Space here). CircusFest – the Roundhouse’s month-long celebration of contemporary circus – kicks off in April. The V&A is one of many major London museums joining in the celebrations with a Friday Late Circus – Past, Present and Future.

Launch of the Circus250 logo
in London

Bristol - Home to more circus companies than any other British city. The Royal West of England Academy Circus250 exhibition Sawdust and Sequins opens in Bristol in March accompanied by performance from Bristol circus school Circomedia.

Pablo Fanque
plaque in Norwich

Norwich and Great Yarmouth (joint) - Norwich is the 19th century birthplace of Britain’s first black circus proprietor Pablo Fanque. Events in Norwich will include The Lord Mayor’s Celebrations featuring a circus parade with life-sized elephant puppets winding through the streets in July, and Famished, the new show by Norwich-based Lost in Translation, opens. The seaside town of Great Yarmouth, meanwhile, is home to the Hippodrome, Britain’s only surviving complete circus building. Click here to read about the fateful encounter in this legendary circus building that inspired Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With the Circus.

Blackpool - Home of the Tower Circus staging shows since 1894. The town comes alive with circus celebrations, from the traditional Tower Circus to the cutting edge Grundy Gallery.

Belfast - Throughout the Troubles in Northern Ireland, circus schools were places where the two communities met to create great work. Contemporary Tumble Circus’s Christmas show closes the Circus250 celebratory year in Belfast’s Writers Square.

For details of forthcoming events visit www.circus250.org

As we head into circus' biggest year for 250 years, get your circus on by reading Circus Mania by Douglas McPherson - a backstage journey through a secret world of clowns, jugglers, tiger trainers, sword-swallowers, trapeze artists and showmen. 

Click here to read the 5-star reviews on Amazon of the book the Mail on Sunday called "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form."

And may all your days be circus days!

Scotland and Ireland ban wild animals from the big top as the traditional circus slowly disappears

Thomas Chipperfield presents the last big cats
to grace Peter Jolly's Circus, in 2014

“I remember the elephants - just.” Those are the words with which I began Circus Mania. From the first line there was a whiff of nostalgia about my survey of the circus world, even though the focus was not on the history of the big top but a journey through the circus scene as it exists today. The Mail on Sunday called the book “A brilliant account of a vanishing art form.” Naturally I was pleased to use the quote in publicity, although some circus aficianados objected to the word “vanishing”. Surely, they argued, the contemporary circus scene is flourishing? A ‘circus hub’ at the Edinburgh Festival and ‘national’ status for the former training school, Circus Space, which became the National Centre for Circus Arts in 2014, reflects a new appreciation for an age-old form of entertainment in today’s arts scene.

But as we enter 2018 - Circus250! - the 250th anniversary of Philip Astley’s first circus, a large part of the circus tradition is vanishing - the tradition of animals as a major part of the traditional circus bill.

The circus was born on horseback - Philip Astley was a trick rider who built his show around equestrian skills. Lions, elephants, sea lions and chimps’ tea parties became, by the mid-20th century part of everyone’s idea of what a circus is.

Today, though, the animals are disappearing fast.

As PT Barnum biopic The Greatest Showman hits cinema screens, the show that bore his name, the 146-year-old Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is no more. Legislation meant it could no longer tour with its elephants and without them it couldn’t sell tickets.

In Britain, meanwhile, just two weeks before the start of Circus250, the Scottish parliament unanimously signed off a ban on wild animals (by which it means all non-native species) in travelling circuses.

Scottish Conservative MSP Donald Cameron said the legislation meant "we will finally and at last truly be able to say Nelly the Elephant has packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus".

It is the first such ban of its kind in the UK, but will it be the last - and will it end with wild animals or prove to be the thin end of a wedge that eventually squeezes even horses - the animal upon which the circus was founded - from a sawdust circle literally designed for four-legged entertainment?

Martin 'Zippo' Burton
(on the right)

Zippos Circus owner Martin Burton, representing the Association of Circus Proprietors, told the Scottish Parliament that a law based on the proposed ethical grounds "will eventually close your zoos".

He said: "The economic impact on animal displays in shopping centres, on displays at outdoors shows of hawks and wild birds, on reindeer and Santa, and eventually zoos will be massive.

"Once you start banning things, particularly on ethical grounds, it is clear that this will spread, because if it's ethically not right to have a wild animal in a circus, then it is ethically not right to have a wild animal appear at a gala or a county show, and it is ethically not right to have a wild animal appear in a shopping centre, and it is ethically not right to have a wild animal appear in a zoo.

"It is clear and logical that that is the only way an ethical ban can go. You can't choose your ethics, you're either going to say it is ethical or it is not ethical."

Burton’s words are being bourn out in Wales, where the Welsh government is currently planning to introduce a new license for Mobile Animal Exhibitions (MAEs). The legislation is aimed at circuses, but because of the difficulty of defining a circus in a way that separates it from other animal exhibitions, the Countryside Alliance and Kennel Club have raised concerns about the effect on other ‘MAEs’ from cattle shows and dog shows to falconry displays.

Across the Irish Sea, the Irish government decreed in November that wild animals would be banned from travelling circuses in Ireland from January 1, 2018.

In England, a ban on wild animals in the big top proposed by David Cameron’s government has so far been staved off with a successful licensing scheme, although the Scottish ban will give fresh ammunition to the animal rights groups pressing for a ban south of the border.

But even without a national ban, local council legislation has reduced the number of ‘wild’ animals in Britain’s big tops to a handful of camels and zebras spread across Peter Jolly’s Circus and Circus Mondao, while only two or three more circuses, such as Zippos, still have even horses or dogs.

The news reminds me of how lucky I was, as a late convert to the appeal of the big top, to visit the Great British Circus during the writing of Circus Mania and be able to report upon the elephants and tigers that I saw there. At the time, it felt like a rare glimpse into a disappearing past. Re-reading that chapter today, with the Great British Circus now five years closed, I wonder if it was the last glimpse of such a circus that any of us will ever see in the UK again.

Is the disappearance of the animals a good thing for the circus? It's an issue I grappled with during the writing of Circus Mania. I was brought up to believe it was a cruel tradition, but as I interviewed animal trainers and show owners and saw more shows, my understanding grew. By the time I wrote a new chapter for the updated 2018 edition of the book and described my visit to Peter Jolly's Circus my opinion on this always contentious subject had changed a lot from the one I had before I saw my first circus with animals. Perhaps yours will, too.

Click here to buy the updated, new edition of Circus Mania and read about my journey through a world that is disappearing fast.

Is the circus dead and buried? A circus in a cemetery digs its grave even deeper

If you go down to the cemetery... forget killer clowns.
Watch out for sacrilegious aerial dancers

Has the image of circus hit an all-time low? Once the big top was a magical place that whole families flocked to for wholesome entertainment. Clowns - how funny! Trapeze artists - how daring! Elephants - just look how big they are!

These days the media mostly greets the circus with contempt and outrage. The animal issue has, of course, decimated the traditional circus.

Last week, The Sun, the good old Current Bun, spat its hate at a "Sick" Ukrainian circus in which a bear is made to salute and a sea lion made to look as if he's playing the guitar. Who but the depraved could find pleasure in such degradation?

Clowns are no longer funny, nor even scary but just plain dangerous. This month a young man was given six months for chasing a couple down the street while dressed as a clown. Okay, he had an axe. But you'd think the fact he was dressed as a clown would have flagged the incident up as a harmless teenage prank. I mean, look at that guy in the clown suit - he's just playing around, right? But no. The judge said the fact the lad was wearing a clown mask was "an aggravating factor."

Clearly when you see a clown these days you don't think, "Ha, ha! Friendly, funny man!" You think, "Homicidal maniac! Run!"

At least there's all-human, clown-free new circus to pull circus tricks out of the mire and restore them to a place of respectability -right?

Well, there was. But now the Australian company Circa has caused fresh ire with its plans for a show in a cemetery.

"Abhorrent!" screams the headline on the BBC's website. "Disrespectful," say residents with loved ones buried nearby. "Sacrilegious!" says another.

Just when you thought these new circus Johnnies were almost civilised it turns out they're as bad as those buggers with the lions! Deport the lot of them! Or lock 'em up! Or... or... I don't know... just don't buy a ticket!

Still, there was one interesting thing in the report, and that was a surprisingly concise definition of the difference between old circus and new.

According to one objector: ".They are swinging from trees like acrobats, performing what is in effect a circus act."

I like that "in effect." Even the protesters know modern circus ain't quite circus as we remember it. Which is a fact one of the council bods sponsoring the show as part of Hull's City of Culture celebrations astutely confirms: "This is contemporary circus, which is best described as aerial dance."

I think that's something traditional circus fans have been trying to say for years.

Tigers back by popular demand - it's what the public wants to see says circus

An American circus that raises money for good causes is bringing back its tigers and elephants thanks to popular demand.

The Melha Shrine Circus, which supports charities including children's hospitals, lost money for the first time in its 63-year history last year, after dropping animal acts in the face of protests.

"We had people asking for refunds after finding out there were no animals," says circus chairman Allen Zippin, who has brought back elephants, tigers and dogs.

The news comes as America's longest-running circus, Ringling, prepares to pack its trunk after a fall-off in ticket sales following the retirement of its elephants last year - and proves that if circuses want to survive they have to please their friends not their enemies.

Animal rights protesters often argue that all-human shows like Cirque du Soleil don't need animal acts to thrill. But when the circuses they complain about stop using animals, those same protesters clearly don't support them by buying tickets.

Protesters make a lot of noise in the media, circus fans a lot less so. But as the Melha Shrine Circus has found, the ring of the cash register speaks louder than the shouts at the gate.

If the circus was a country...

I found these words by Jamie Clubb incredibly moving when I first read them, and at a time when the circus is hurting over Ringling‘s closure, now even more so...

Pablo Fanque
Britain's first black
circus showman
1800s

“Think of a society that, on a political basis, is both the capitalist and socialist's dream. Think of a society that employed ex-slaves ahead of everyone else and by its very nature is multicultural. Think of a society that has a hierarchy and even a system ingrained in culture and tradition and yet opened its doors to absolutely anyone who was willing to work hard and provide them with the realistic dream of climbing to the top of their professional tree. 

Mabel Stark
Tiger trainer

“Think of a society that always provided equal opportunities for men and women; a society that had a woman heading a strong family business years before women had the equal vote. Think of a society that provided highly profitable employment and success for the disabled when the rest of society only offered poverty or the workhouse. 

Alex Lacey
English star of Ringling Bros.

"Think of a society that brought animals from all over the world to people who never knew they existed and further worked with institutions that to this day work to conserve these species.  Think of a society that through exposing people to said animals brought awareness of said animals' plight in the wild. 

Billy Smart and Yasmine Smart
meet Princess Margaret

“Think of a culture that entertained audiences of all classes and creeds. Think of a culture that takes the form of a global family accepting leaders as equals of any sex, race, religion, philosophical position, sexual orientation or moderate political persuasion. Think of an institution that boosted the economy, never asked for government support or public funding, that worked off their own steam and integrated themselves into every community they visited, often providing job opportunities. 

“Think of a society that built buildings over a century ago that still stand today and brought elements that are part of the very fabric of modern entertainment. 

Daily Mail

"Then imagine if that culture is shunned by the country that invented it and suffers fashionable prejudice. Imagine if said society's very name prompts disdain to such a degree that it has become accepted as noun for general lowliness. These are my people. This is the circus community."

- Jamie Clubb
Author of The Legend of Salt and Sauce - The Amazing Story of Britain’s Most Famous Elephants
www.jamieclubb.blogspot.co.uk

Tiger tamer Thomas tackles Roger Moore over circus animals hypocrisy

First it was Amanda Holden, now it's James Bond... Read the story here.

Politics and the circus

Political circus is a common expression, but from public funding of the arts to legislation on circus animals, the changing tides of politics do blow like gales against the walls of the big top.

In this article on Blasting News, I offer my analysis of how last year's votes for Donald Trump and Brexit will affect the issue of animals in the big top. Click here to read it.

And click here for the latest news on changing attitudes to circus animals in Wales.