Who will fill their circus shoes? RIP Phillip Gandey, John Haze, Gerry Cottle and Nell Gifford

It was a shock this week to hear of the death of Phillip Gandey (pictured above with the cast of Gandeys Circus) at the tragically young age of 67.

When I interviewed Gandey for The Stage in 2020, he was a man full of life. Having just reopened three big tops in Butlins holiday centres, after lockdown restrictions were lifted, his one regret was that he didn't have his usual "five or six" shows simultaneously running in locations from the Edinburgh Festival to the Far and Middle East.

Gandey was born into the circus world. A clown aged three, and a knife-thrower at 11, he inherited his father's circus and became the world's youngest circus director at 17.

With his wife, Carol, he established Gandey World Class Productions as the UK's premier exporter of circus shows. When Gandeys Circus stopped using animals in the early 1990s, Gandey became one of the industry's great innovators, seeking fresh ideas to fill the gap left by big cats and elephants.

He brought a Chinese troupe of acrobats to the UK and created the Chinese State Circus, which became one of the country's most successful touring shows. He also created the cabaret-style Lady Boys of Bangkok, Cirque Surreal, Spirit of the Horse and the fundraising Circus Starr (which you can read about here).

One of his newest creations, the circus-on-ice show Snow Storm 3 is currently delighting audiences at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. His Great Circus of Europe, meanwhile, has toured Hong Kong, Singapore, and is currently in the Arab Emirates.

Gandey's passing leaves a huge hole in the circus world, and follows the loss of another great British showman, John Haze, who died in April this year at almost exactly the same young age.

Haze, like Gandey, was both artistic director and businessman, creating the long-running success story the Circus of Horrors and currently the UK's biggest big top show, Circus Extreme (read my review here).

Sadly, it was only a couple of years ago that both Haze and Gandey were paying tribute to another great showman, and a collaborator with both of them, Gerry Cottle, probably the best-known name in UK circus since the 1970s, who died in January 2021, aged 75.

Circus Mania author Douglas McPherson
with Gerry Cottle (left) and John Haze.

It was not long before that, that the circus world was shocked by the loss to cancer of Nell Gifford, aged just 46. (Read her story here)

Nell Gifford

In the space of four years, Britain has lost four of the most important circus impresarios of modern times. Each was an innovator and energiser, breathing new life into a world of big top and circus ring that was created in London by Philip Astley more than 250 years ago. 

They formed a generation of circus-producing talent fit to be remembered alongside their predecessors in earlier eras: Billy Smart, the Chipperfields, Bertram Mills, Lord Sanger and Astley himself. 

Like four king poles, Gandey, Haze, Cottle and Gifford lifted the tent of British circus high. But with their departure, the big top will not fall.

Although all four were driving forces and figureheads, they were not one-person companies. Each left behind a creative team and/or family members to carry on their legacy. Giffords Circus, the Circus of Horrors and Circus Extreme continue to tour without their creators and the many shows of Phillip Gandey will doubtless do likewise, capably overseen by Carol Gandey and their daughters.

We still have another of our greatest showmen, Martin 'Zippo' Burton, whose twin shows in Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland this Christmas reveal the Zippos brand to be at the top of its game.

And a new generation of circus blood is rising, inspired by the generation that came before. People like Tracy Jones who ran away with the circus when she was 15 and learned her craft having knives thrown at her by Phillip Gandey himself. Jones travelled the world with Gandeys Circus, an apprenticeship that stood her in good stead to start her own show, Circus Funtasia, which is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Also on the ascent are Paul and Irina Archer who spent many years working with Haze in behind-the-scenes roles on the Moscow State Circus and Circus Extreme before launching their own colourful and contemporary-styled big top show Circus Cortex two years ago. The show is currently starring at the indoor Kingdom of Winter attraction at ExCel London. 

Around the country, Planet Circus, Circus Zyair and Big Kid Circus are providing top drawer circus entertainment to big audiences in what feels like a thriving scene.

It's easy to see the passing of giants like Phillip Gandey, Haze, Cottle and Gifford as the end of an era. But in the circus, there are no ends. The show will always go on. And as much as they will be missed, I'm sure that Gandey, Haze, Cottle and Gifford would want it no other way.

 

Yasmin Smart remembers her grandfather Billy Smart

In an interview that first appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the circus equestrian and ring-mistress Yasmin Smart recalls her grandfather, the circus showman Billy Smart, and the day they received a royal visit in this photograph.

"This is me at the age of six or seven presenting flowers to Princess Margaret at the charity performance my grandfather Billy Smart, pictured centre, presented on Clapham Common each year to raise money for the Variety Club.

Granddad had started out with a coconut shy and by the 1930s had the largest touring funfair in England. He always had a soft spot for circuses, and in 1946 he bought a second-hand big top. For a while he toured a circus alongside the funfair. Then the circus became so large that he carried on without the fair. By the time of this photo in 1960, our big top was a huge 6000-seater.

One reason we needed such a big tent was because Granddad loved big productions. We had a track around the outside of the circus ring and the finale was a huge western scene with everyone riding horses and shooting.

In the picture he’s wearing his trademark western tie. He always had a Stetson and a big cigar. He was a great fan of America and got a lot of his ideas from there, which is why he called his show Billy Smart’s New World Circus - he was very modern and brought something new to the circus world.

He was a very flamboyant man. When he came into the room, you couldn’t help noticing him. He was a very hard father but a fantastic grandfather. He had about 30 grandchildren and I think he was much warmer and more affectionate to us than he’d been to his children - even though he had a very dry sense of humour which could be quite hard for a child to understand.

One year I was begging my father for a horse. I looked out the window on my birthday and there it was, wearing a big bow. I hugged my daddy and he said, “No, it wasn’t me, it was Granddad.” I ran to Granddad to thank him and he just gave me a smile: “What horse...?”

That was his sense of humour; he didn’t want any fuss. But we loved him very much and he loved us. We’d go to his caravan on Sunday to get our pocket money and he liked me to scratch his head. His hair lotion had a distinctive scent and after he died there’d be times in the winter quarters that I could still smell it.

On the day he died, in 1966, we’d had a big parade through Ipswich. There was a band in front of the big top and he was dancing in front of the crowd to I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts. I was looking after the pony rides and watching from a distance, giggling at the sight. He went into his caravan, and the next thing I saw was people rushing around and an ambulance coming. He’d just dropped dead.

For him, that was the best way to go. Shortly before he died he’d bought a big piece of land that would become Windsor Safari Park. He didn’t live to see it open, but to the end he was planning his next venture."

Interview by Douglas McPherson

A Pictorial History of Gerry Cottle's Circus and The Posters of Billy Smart's Circus

The Wells, Somerset postmark meant the sturdy package could only have come from one man: Britain's most legendary living showman, Gerry Cottle. And what a treat it was to open the jiffy bag and pull out A World of Circus - A Pictorial History of Gerry Cottle's Circus by ace photographer Andrew Payne.

This is Volume 2 and takes us from 1991 to 2015. The A4-size hardback is stuffed with glorious colour photographs from in the ring, to backstage, the transport and shots of the big top being built up and pulled down; plus hundreds of fabulous circus posters.

All Gerry's ventures from the past 25 years are here: the Moscow State Circus, Circus of Horrors, Cottle and Austin, Wookey Hole caves and theme park, the recent Wow! and Turbo shows - forming a fantastic visual journey with a year-by-year written account of the shows.

It's a book every circus fan will enjoy, although the Cottle story is far from over.

Slipped into the cover of my copy was a photocopied list of dates for Gerry's latest venture, Gerry Cottle's Electric Circus, which begins its 2016 tour on Southsea Common, July 2.

For more on Gerry Cottle, click here.

And if you like the new Gerry Cottle book, you'll also enjoy The Posters of Billy Smart's Circus by Steven B Richley. Before Cottle, Billy Smart was the showman who's name came to mind in Britain whenever the word circus was mentioned, and the Smart name is still synonymous with the big top.

2016 is the 70th anniversary of Smart's first circus, and this is another A4 hardback, beautifully printed and positively overflowing with amazing circus art that traces Smart's history through the years.

The Smart name lives on, and it was recently my pleasure to interview the Guv'nor's granddaughter, Yasmine Smart for this piece in the Daily Telegraph in which she recalled growing up in Britain's most famous circus. I hope you can download the image and blow it up large enough to read.

UPDATE September 2016: Just heard that The Posters of Billy Smart's Circus is SOLD OUT - although a reprint is scheduled for 2018, to mark the 250th anniversary of Philip Astley's first circus. In the meantime, Steven B Richley's next book, Sir Robert Fossetts Circus - The Definitive Visual History, will be out in November. More details here. 

Gerry Cottle, left, with Circus Mania
author Douglas McPherson
as pictured in The Stage.

The Guv'nor, Billy Smart

This fine portrait of arguably Britain's most famous circus owner, Billy Smart, was painted by Terence Cuneo and appears in Steven B Richley's fabulous new book, The Posters of Billy Smart's Circus. The book can be purchased from Double Crown Books for £34.99 including postage. Click here for details.

More on this soon.

One of the posters (also used on the cover) in
The Poster of Billy Smarts Circus
by Steven B Richley

The 100-year battle to ban animals in entertainment

How the Daily Mail reported the
return of elephants to the Great British Circus
in 2009

The first calls to ban performing animals were made 100 years ago. In this article that originally appeared in The Stage, I untangle the history of opposition to animals in entertainment.

Animals have been entertaining us for as long as we’ve had professional entertainment. The word ‘circus’ dates from Roman arenas such as the Circus Maximus, where the spectacle ranged from chariot races to exhibitions of exotic breeds from across the empire. The circus as we know it was founded in London in 1768 by trick horse-rider Philip Astley, who augmented equestrian displays with clowns, acrobats and strongmen.

Animals were also part of music hall tradition. Jospeph Grimaldi, the early 19th century pantomime star regarded as the father of clowning, used a trained donkey called Neddy in his act.

The PG Tips chimps were among the most
popular TV stars of the 70s, but times change and the
long-running advertising campaign was eventually dropped.

Retired to a zoo, the chimps, including 42-year-old Choppers,
pictured here, were said to miss human interaction and
found it hard to integrate with other apes. Is that why
she looks so sad? Or does she just want a cuppa?

During the 20th century, animals were used in the film and television industries from the beginning, making stars of Lassie, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Flipper the dolphin.

Part of that tradition seemed destined to disappear when the government announced its plans to ban wild animals in circuses from December 2015. But that now looks unlikely to happen after the much anticipated Wild Animals in Circuses Bill failed to appear in the list of legislation to be brought before Parliament before the next election.

The campaign to outlaw performing animals is not new, however, and neither is the phenomenon of actors and other celebrities using their fame to endorse animal rights groups such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

The formation of the world’s oldest animal welfare organisation, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), in 1824, led to the Cruelty to Animals acts of 1835 and 1876. The latter was intended to regulate experiments on animals. But concern over the use of animals in science spread to questions about their treatment in entertainment and led to the Wild Animals in Captivity Protection Act, 1900.

Jack London
- Pulp novelist who called
for direct action against
circuses with animals

The Performing Animals Defence League was founded in 1914 to campaign against the use of performing animals. It was followed in 1918 by the Jack London Club. The latter was named after American pulp novelist Jack London who called for direct action against animal performances in the forward to his 1917 novel Michael, Brother of Jerry, which focused on alleged cruelty to animals in America. The Jack Londoners, as they were known, picketed circuses in the US and then Britain and Europe throughout the 1920s.

The first attempt at a government ban came in 1921, when Liberal MP Joseph Kenworthy introduced the Performing Animals Prohibition Bill. The bill was unsuccessful, but a select committee was set up to investigate the issue and led to the Performing Animals (Regulation) Act of 1925 which to this day requires that anyone who wishes to perform with an animal in public must possess a licence.

Calls for a ban continued and in 1927, the RSPCA wrote to the Times, asking “Will the public help to abolish this painful form of amusement by refraining from patronising exhibitions in which performing animals have a part?” The letter was signed by a list of public figures and celebrities including playwright George Bernard Shaw and the actress Sybil Thorndike.

Billy Smart's poster from
the heyday of animals in the circus

The 1950s were a boom time for circuses in Britain, and a period when animal acts by far outnumbered tightrope walkers and trapeze artists. The two biggest operators, Billy Smart’s and Chipperfields, filled their 5000-capacity big tops with hundreds of animals from tigers and polar bears to sea lions and giraffes.

Against that background, the Captive Animals Protection Society (CAPS) was founded in 1957 to campaign and demonstrate against the use of animals in circuses and the exotic pet trade. In 1965, CAPS president Lord Somers sponsored a bill in the House of Lords to prohibit the use of performing animals. It was defeated by just 14 votes.

The 1970s saw the emergence of a new animal rights movement spearheaded by philosopher Pete Singer. Whereas previous campaigners had focused on animal welfare, the animal rights lobby sought to end the ownership of animals for entertainment, food, experimentation and products such as leather, by granting them equal rights to humans.

In 1984, husband and wife actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna founded the Born Free Foundation, named after the 1966 film Born Free, in which they had starred, to campaign against zoos and circuses.

Since the 1980s, around 200 local authorities have banned performing animals from council-owned show grounds. Circuses were forced to use private land in less accessible locations where animal rights activists often demonstrated at the gates. By the late 90s, most circuses had responded by dispensing with animals. The all-human Moscow State Circus and Chinese State Circus became the most successful big top shows in the UK, while Canada’s globally successful Cirque du Soleil, which had never featured animals, became the biggest producer in circus history.

An audience for animal acts remained, however. Zippos toured for ten years as an all-human circus but eventually introduced horses and dogs because of public demand. More recently, Ashleigh and Pudsey - a dancing dog - was a hit with the public on Britain’s Got Talent.

Dr Marthe Kiley-Worthington's
report on circus animals
Click here for more.

In 1988, the RSPCA sponsored an 18-month study of circuses by Dr Marthe Kiley-Worthington. The society refused to publish the results because she concluded circuses caused animals no distress and could have benefits for conservation, education and science. Kiley-Worthington subsequently published her report in the book Animals in Circuses and Zoos - Chiron’s World? (Aardvark Publishing). In Greek mythology, Chiron was half man, half horse and symbolises the relationship between humans and animals.

In 1999, undercover film made by Animal Defenders International (ADI) led to the conviction of Mary Chipperfield for cruelty to a chimpanzee at the Hampshire farm where she was training animals for film work.

Under pressure to ban circuses from using animals, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) set up the Circus Animals Working Group. The resulting report by Mike Radford, in 2007, concluded that circuses were as capable of meeting the needs of their animals as other captive environments such as zoos, and that there were no welfare reasons for a ban.

My report in The Stage on the Great British Circus
elephant controversy

Further undercover operations by ADI, however, resulted in film of elephants being hit at the Great British Circus in 2009 and a retired elephant, Anne, being beaten by a groom at the winter quarters of Bobby Roberts Super Circus in 2011. Roberts was given a conditional discharge for failing to prevent the groom in the video from abusing the elephant.

Following the large scale media outcry over Anne, animal welfare minister Lord Taylor announced in March 2012 that the government would ban wild animals in circuses from December 2015, with a new licensing and inspection scheme introduced in the interim. Only two companies, Peter Jolly’s Circus and Circus Mondao, applied for and were granted licenses, with shows such as Zippos unaffected since they use only domestic animals.

The Stage
- The issue this article
originally appeared in.

Animal rights groups such as CAPs criticised the government for delaying the legislation necessary to bring in the ban, and when it emerged in June this year that the Wild Animals in Circuses Bill won’t be debated before the next election, its future was put in doubt.

After a hundred years of controversy, however, calls for a ban are unlikely to go away, and Britain’s stance on the matter will be closely watched by animal trainers and animal rights groups around the world. Both sides believe a ban in Britain, where circus was invented, could create a domino effect in Europe and America. And with the film and television industries largely dependent on circuses for their trained animals, that could have implications for the future of all animals in entertainment.


The 100-Year Battle To Ban Performing Animals - Timeline

1914 - Performing Animals Defence League founded.

1921 - Joseph Kenworthy MP introduces unsuccessful Performing Animals Prohibition Bill.

1925 - Performing Animals (Regulation) Act introduces licenses for performing with animals in public.

1957 - Captive Animals Protection Society founded.

Born Free
The film about a lion that gave its name
to an animal rights group.

1984 - Zoo Check Campaign, later Born Free Foundation, founded by Born Free stars Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.

1980s - Many local councils ban circus animals from municipal show grounds.

1999 - Mary Chipperfield convicted of cruelty after undercover investigation by Animal Defenders International (ADI).

2000 - The Performing Animals Welfare Standards International (PAWSI) founded to promote animal welfare in audio-visual industries.

2006 - Classical Circus Association founded to represent circuses with animals.

2007 - DEFRA-commissioned Radford Report finds no welfare grounds to ban animals in circuses.

2009 - ADI releases undercover film of elephants being hit at Great British Circus.

2009 - Bolivia becomes first country to ban all animals in circuses.

2011 - Media outcry over ADI film of Anne the elephant being beaten at winter quarters of Bobby Roberts Super Circus.

2012 - Animal welfare minister Lord Taylor announces ban on wild animals in circuses in 2015 and Circus Licensing Scheme in interim.

2013 - Peter Jolly’s Circus and Circus Mondao become only two UK circuses licensed to use wild animals.

2014 - With the Government's proposed ban on hold until after next year’s general election, Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick introduced a private member's bill under the 10-minute rule on September 3. It was blocked for the 12th time on March 6, 2015.

2015 - Thomas Chipperfield takes to the road in Wales with An Evening With Lions and Tigers.

2016 - The Welsh Assembly promise a ban on wild animals in travelling shows and appoint Professor Stephen Harris to carry out a study, which is expected to be complete by February 2016.

2016 - 10 February. Conservative MP Christopher Chope provides first public indication that the government may be reconsidering a ban, when he tells the Commons that the existing licensing regime has rendered a ban unnecessary. (Details here)

2nd Edition out now!

For more on the ever-thorny subject of animals in the circus, including a behind-the-scenes visit to Circus Mondao, one of only two British circuses licensed to use wild animals, read Circus Mania by Douglas McPherson. "A brilliant account of a vanishing art form," - Mail on Sunday.

Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon.

Circus war in Norfolk

Are the more than 50 circuses in the UK this year (click here for the full list) too many for our small island?

Earlier this month, Circus Wonderland was forced to cancel its engagement in King's Lynn when director Paul Carpenter discovered Uncle Sam's Great American Circus was appearing in the Norfolk market town the week before. It would have been "financial suicide" to have two circuses appearing in consecutive weeks, said Carpenter.

Uncle Sam's Circus was itself the third circus to visit King's Lynn this year, following Circus Mondao and Russell's International Circus.

Wind forward a couple of weeks, and just a few miles west to Norwich, and on the day Uncle Sam's American Circus trucks roll out of Taverham in the north of the city (click here to see my pictures of their spectacular American lorries), I saw a poster for Billy Smart's Circus, which is coming to the Norwich Showground in just a couple of weeks on June 10.

Is the whole country suffering from such an abundance of circuses? And is there a big enough audience to sustain them all, or will the public be, as Paul Carpenter described King's Lynn "circused out"?

Rod Stewart and Elton John visit the circus!

Recalling the days when big stars and big tops rubbed shoulders much more frequently, here's Rod Stewart and Elton John dropping in on son of the circus Billy Smart Jr and his wife Hannalore. (Not sure what they've got in those tins, but they look suspiciously like they're raising funds for an animal charity to me!)

If those groovy clothes float your boat, get along to Westfield Stratford today, Fashion Revolution Day, where Hannalore will be selling off her 1500-piece wardrobe from the 60s, 70s and 80s, with some of the money going to charity. Don't expect clown shoes and sparkly leotards, though. We're talking the sort of vintage designer gear by Vivienne Westword, Chanel and Versace that a socialite circus wife wore in those days.

Who knows, maybe even Rod and Elton will be there...

DVD Review of The British Circus 1898 - 1972

Ladies and gentlemen... boys and girls... roll up, roll up for a journey through more than 80 years of circus history as captured by the cameras of British Pathe and Movietone News. And what a show this collection of featurettes adds up to.

In the earliest footage, dating from the very dawn of filmmaking in 1898, we see the Barnum and Bailey Circus arriving in Sunderland, crowds lining the streets to watch the parade of elephants, camels and caged wagons full of tigers.

Elsewhere, as this DVD moves forward through the decades, we watch the Bertram Mills circus arriving on its own train, and watch wartime evacuees helping to erect a big top on a village green.

The short films move constantly between behind-the-scenes clips - of Bertram Mills rehearsals at its winter quarters; of a clown applying his ornate make-up; of football-size crowds arriving at the famous Belle Vue circus building - and shots of the action in the ring: a fast-moving parade of clown cars, human pyramids on horseback, polar bears careening down slides and daredevil stunts by trapeze artists and human cannonballs.

The droll commentary, in its clipped pre-war tones, adds a delight of its own. One horse rider is described as being afraid of nothing on four legs, “Unless it’s a couple of income tax collectors.”

Animal antics abound, including footballing dogs - and what a spectacle they make as they leap high into the air to head the ball - platoons of elephants performing a graceful ballet, and a bear circling the ring on a Lambretta scooter.

Rehearsing the horses

Cruel? The sight of a lion on a swing, with its trainer vigorously pulling the animal’s tail to set it in motion may make you wonder. But then, if the lion wasn’t happy, would you pucker your lips and trust it to give you a kiss rather than bite your head off?

The footage dates from an era when the question of animal rights had yet to be raised. As one commentator puts it, “The showman’s creed is to treat his animals well, before even himself.”

The bear who runs along on his back legs, taps his trainer on the shoulder and gives him a kiss, looks like he’s enjoying himself. There appears to be more cruelty in the way the contortionists are trained - just watch the instructor forcing a girl’s foot back past her head. But her big grin suggests she doesn’t mind.

Beginning in black and white, the footage becomes colour as we move into the era of Billy Smart's, but even the grainiest black and white film is full of colour in the sense of entertainment and surprises.

Great moments include a man riding a bicycle across an open-air high-wire, 60-feet up, with a woman hanging on a trapeze from each axle; the thrilling adagio act of Balliol and Merton, which includes a jump from a high pedestal into a one-armed catch; and a trapeze flyer who leaps to a swing that collapses in her hands. As the audience gasps, she plummets towards the ground, then swings upside down from an unseen safety wire attached to her ankle - her hair almost stroking the sawdust.

Although the prime focus is on the British circus, the bonus features take us abroad for a visit to the Cole Brothers Circus in America - including footage of legendary big cat tamer Clyde Beatty - and some hilariously sped-up film of an Australian circus being built.

It all adds up to more than three hours of unmissable big top action that will delight any circus fan.

For more on the history of the circus and life behind-the-scenes in the big top, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus!

Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See also: My review of Variety Acts and Turns of the Pre-War Years and Post War Years