0:00:16 > 0:00:18DRUM ROLL
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26I introduce to you, the circus!
0:00:33 > 0:00:36As the Second World War passed into history,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Britain looked to an old friend
0:00:38 > 0:00:40to cheer itself up.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50There is something quite amazing about that corner in the park,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53that suddenly has a circus arrive on it
0:00:53 > 0:00:56and becomes something like Las Vegas.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03The travelling circus brought some much-needed dazzle to an age of austerity.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09For a generation brought up on war,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12the Big Top was the stuff of dreams.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16They would come in so excited, looking everywhere. Everywhere.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18They didn't know where to look next.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22The circus was pure magic to young eyes.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25The atmosphere, the smell, the artistry.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29It was beyond belief,
0:01:29 > 0:01:31it was an explosion of delights.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Exotic people. At that time, we never saw people from other countries
0:01:37 > 0:01:39and other nations who spoke other languages.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46I'd think, "Who are these people, where were they yesterday,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48"where are they going to be tomorrow?
0:01:52 > 0:01:57In the immediate post-war years, circus rode the crest of a wave.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04With big operations such as Bertram Mills and Chipperfield's
0:02:04 > 0:02:06travelling the length and breadth of the country,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08to meet the growing demand.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17It was into this bright, sequinned world that a new circus
0:02:17 > 0:02:18came to town.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21And it seemed to arrive from nowhere.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29My father always wanted to own his own circus.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31When we started the circus back in 1946,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34my God, we didn't know nothing about it at all.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Billy Smart was a showman by instinct,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48a big man with big ambitions.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51My father always went for the best, you know.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53When he wanted something, he went for the best.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56And quite honestly, he couldn't afford it,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59but he managed it and he did it.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Any money that we made in the business was always poured back into the business.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Smart's Circus quickly became very successful
0:03:09 > 0:03:11and Billy Smart gained celebrity status.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16He would go on to be the face of circus for the next 20 years.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24Although Billy was most definitely the governor, he had the support of a wider working family,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27including his son, Ronnie.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29It is the only way you can do it, with a big family.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32We had a very large family.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37They didn't all perform in the ring. Only one person performed in the ring, and that was Kay.
0:03:37 > 0:03:43But it had to be a family concern, there is no doubt about it.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Kay Smart, Ronnie's wife,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47had been a performer in the music hall,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50but then trained to become a trapeze artist.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54The hardest thing I had to do was to learn to walk up this rope ladder.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58It was 30 foot up and it just was terribly hard
0:03:58 > 0:04:01trying to walk up a rope ladder, in the middle of nothing,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03with not a wall near to hang on to.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05But I got it.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08You look down and you can see how full the house is
0:04:08 > 0:04:11or if they're enjoying it, and all that sort of thing,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and you know the trick you're going to do next is a good one,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and you do it better, if you see they're all with you.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Of all the thrilling and dangerous spectacles in the circus,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28the aerial acts are perhaps the most glamorous.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37I fell in love with the high-wire act ladies,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40I definitely did. I think my first erotic stirrings were caused
0:04:40 > 0:04:45by watching women 30 feet above me.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52And they had their hair done fancy,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55so they were something else altogether.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00As a young trapeze artist, Laci Enrdresz enjoyed all the attention.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03It is a wonderful thing, the flying trapeze.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05You are the star act, normally, in the show.
0:05:05 > 0:05:11When you're 18 or 19 years old, the girls, pop-star status, the girls all over you.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13You can live with that when you're 18, 19, 20 years old.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17There's something about the high wire
0:05:17 > 0:05:19and its blend of grace and danger
0:05:19 > 0:05:22that taps straight into the realm of fantasy.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29When I was very tiny, we went to Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32I was completely entranced. The aerial acts were just wonderful.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34We went back to school
0:05:34 > 0:05:36and we started hanging upside down off the wall bars
0:05:36 > 0:05:38wanting to be trapeze artists.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41But the one that sticks in my mind
0:05:41 > 0:05:45was a girl on a crescent moon in a sparkly costume. Gina on the moon.
0:05:48 > 0:05:55And, you know, all our lives, we say, "Oh, remember the girl on the moon."
0:06:00 > 0:06:05The things in the circus for me are the skill and the beauty.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08The whole act has to be aesthetically pleasing.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11But if they're sparkly -
0:06:11 > 0:06:14in the traditional circus, sparkle is everything.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17If they open an umbrella and glitter falls out,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19it's just so special, every time.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22It doesn't matter how many times you've seen it, it's wonderful.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24APPLAUSE
0:06:29 > 0:06:34But behind all the glitz and glamour lie years of training.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38One mistake, and the consequences can be devastating for the performer.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41I was twice paralysed, from the neck down.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44You know, my right hand side was completely paralysed,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49I was hung by the neck by the doctors in Austria for days before they gone back in place
0:06:49 > 0:06:52and many, many bones in my body.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56I mean, one fall, we had 14 bones broke in my body,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00falling down from 40 foot high without a net.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04I fall in the net and I broke my neck in the net.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08The circus thrives on the elemental appeal of danger,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12and aerial attacks push human ability to the extreme.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18For the first time in your life, as a child or even as an adult,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22you were faced with something, which was a matter of life or death.
0:07:22 > 0:07:28And it's a wild, crazy emotion, to be observing somebody
0:07:28 > 0:07:32taking their life into their hands. And this is what circus performers
0:07:32 > 0:07:34appear to be doing.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37The idea that somebody is actually, for a split second,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41in mid-air, doing a somersault,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44to catch hands with somebody else that they trust.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49That's life and death, and it's an incredible, visceral thing.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54You have to have the danger in circus, it's part of it,
0:07:54 > 0:07:55it's part of their lives.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58You have to have the beauty and skill.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Britain wasn't alone in rediscovering the power of circus.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09The Big Top was big business in post-war America too.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Ever the entrepreneur, Billy Smart headed across Atlantic to see
0:08:15 > 0:08:17what he could pick up.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20He was mainly looking for new acts, but he ended up
0:08:20 > 0:08:22with a tip from a Hollywood film director.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29We went across to see the Barnum And Bailey show, actually.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33I think they'd just made the film The Greatest Show On Earth.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37And they had a blue big top.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39The blue big top was something new
0:08:39 > 0:08:42because Cecil DeMille, who was the producer director,
0:08:42 > 0:08:47he wanted to film during the day, so therefore he had to have a blue tent
0:08:47 > 0:08:50so he could get all the colours and all that sort of thing.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54So we came back and we said, "We're going to buy a blue tent."
0:08:54 > 0:08:57And we did. Blue big top, never been heard of before.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00The blue canvas meant the acts looked just as spectacular
0:09:00 > 0:09:05during the day as they did at night, drawing ever bigger crowds.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11There was a regular, say, 5,000 people twice a night, anyway.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16A huge operation like Smart's required a great deal of organisation.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21By the '50s, they had to employ a large staff.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24We had tent masters, second tent masters,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26electricians, second electricians, you know.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30We had a complete, good, working thing.
0:09:30 > 0:09:35But everybody had two jobs. A shirt-sleeve job and a spangle job.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39When it's going up, in it goes, the circus ring,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43it was the clowns' job to set this exactly right
0:09:43 > 0:09:48so it didn't part and all the pieces joined together like a good jigsaw.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51And then it was, say, the acrobat who did tumbling.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55It was to their benefit that there wasn't any stones.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57So that was what they did.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59And when the stones were all gone,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03then the good sawdust went in and a bit of glitter on top of it.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08So that where you were working was really some place you wanted to be.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15As well as being a trapeze artist, Kay orchestrated the music for the acts.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17This was a crucial role.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21In a circus, everything was choreographed with split-second timing,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and that included the animals.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26We ended up putting the music
0:10:26 > 0:10:30to the horses and to the bears, to the lions and different things.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35The elephants knew it, they all know the music, the animals, the horses,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38every animal knew its music, because if its music started
0:10:38 > 0:10:41there was "Rrrruuurr" behind the curtains, you know.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Performing animals were
0:10:43 > 0:10:47a key draw for the circus back in the '50s,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50when attitudes were very different to those of today.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58For many, it would be the first time they had ever seen a wild animal.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02It could be a terrifying experience.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07There's a great clattering as men in overalls arrive
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and start erecting a cage all the way around the arena.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16And then inside the cage these stands are put and then we can see a tunnel
0:11:16 > 0:11:20and then a man with a very large whip and a gun arrives.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26And it's, "Haiich! Haaich! Hi!" And then in come the lions.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Now this is frightening.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32I know what these things can do and there they are,
0:11:32 > 0:11:38growling and snarling and this guy is poking them with his whip
0:11:38 > 0:11:42and they're jumping up and they're doing this, that and the other.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46But then he brings in a tiger, as well. Lions and tigers.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47Surely this cannot be?
0:11:47 > 0:11:51And I'm absolutely staggered,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55captivated and can't believe there can be any life more glamorous
0:11:55 > 0:11:58than having a whip and a gun and a lion.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05The threat of danger was never far from the surface in the circus,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09both in the minds of the audience and the performers.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13This element of risk gave rise to some unusual beliefs
0:12:13 > 0:12:14among circus people.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16They are so funny, the old superstitions.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18A bird flying around the tent is unlucky.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Never sit with your back to the ring.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24You'd never put your circus ring directly on top of the circus ring
0:12:24 > 0:12:27where the previous circus had been. You'd move it a bit to one side.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30You should never whistle.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32You wouldn't see circus artists wearing green.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37Circuses are full of superstition. It's a nightmare!
0:12:37 > 0:12:42This deep-rooted folklore goes back to the origins of the circus.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Its history is over 200 years old
0:12:44 > 0:12:47and it was born out of very tumultuous times.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Circus started in the United Kingdom in 1768,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54when an equestrian horseman called Philip Astley
0:12:54 > 0:12:56set up Astley's Amphitheatre in London.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03This was a period of fierce nationalism and imperial conflict.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07In 1763, the Seven Years War came to an end,
0:13:07 > 0:13:12which led to the discharge of large groups of former British cavalrymen and horse grooms.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Philip Astley was one of those veterans.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20He had embarked on a career in trick riding,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22which was popular at the time.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27He had the idea to rope off a piece of land
0:13:27 > 0:13:28and put a wall around it.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33The creation of the ring was just the starting point.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Astley was an entrepreneur, a showman,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40who started out with a simple aim but quickly spotted an opportunity
0:13:40 > 0:13:43to create something truly unique and innovative.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Astley's initial remit for himself
0:13:50 > 0:13:55was to show the expertise on horseback.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Astley could see that there was an appetite for trick riding
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and no shortage of skilled people to take part.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04But he wasn't the only one,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07and so he decided to try something new.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14He introduced other performers, such as acrobats, jugglers and clowns,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18acts that he found in the fairs and marketplaces of Britain.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22This was a defining moment.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26By combining all these different acts in one circular ring,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Astley became the father of the circus.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34It wasn't long before his show was in demand far and wide.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39He travelled all over Europe, built 17 amphitheatres.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41So his roped-off piece of land with a wooden wall
0:14:41 > 0:14:43turned into an amphitheatre
0:14:43 > 0:14:46and he then built 17 amphitheatres right across Europe.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51But the horse acts still remained the driving force for the shows
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and Astley made them spectacular.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57He loved to sort of re-enact.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00He re-enacted the storming of the Bastille.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03I can kind of imagine that being like the News At Ten,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06so people in London could hear what's just happened in France,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09hear about the revolution, and then they could go to Astley's
0:15:09 > 0:15:13and see it performed, see what was happening, almost like a newsflash.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Astley had lit the touchpaper.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21His circus spawned many imitations and the circus
0:15:21 > 0:15:25was soon a hugely popular and established form of entertainment.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Right from the beginning,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30entrepreneurs realised the huge potential audience
0:15:30 > 0:15:33and wanted to take the circus beyond the fixed venue
0:15:33 > 0:15:35of the amphitheatre building.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43What they would do was to find wasteland, or an available space,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46get an architect to draw up a plan,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50take the plan to the local wood yard, buy the wood,
0:15:50 > 0:15:55hire a builder to put the building, put the building up.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00Stay there for as long as an audience would pay to come and see the show.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03And then, when they'd exhausted the audience,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07dismantle the building, sell it back to the wood yard,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and move on to the next town and repeat the process.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13For now, circuses were either open air
0:16:13 > 0:16:17or confined to makeshift or permanent buildings.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22But as the circus moved into the 1800s, it continued to develop.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25And thanks to Victorian ingenuity,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29it took on many of the aspects we are familiar with today.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Circus in the Victorian period really was one of its high peaks.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39There was 15,000 people performing in the circus. That's extraordinary.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43More and more variety was introduced.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Certainly the horses were still there
0:16:50 > 0:16:53as the sort of focal point,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56but with sort of exotic animals and animal trainers,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58which had started to come in as well.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04The idea of performing wild animals was born out of the menagerie tradition,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08which may have held a fascination for Victorian audiences
0:17:08 > 0:17:11but dated back as far as the 12th century,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15when royalty and titled gentry kept exotic animals.
0:17:17 > 0:17:25In 1842, this very British creation benefited from the arrival of an American import.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The Big Top had arrived.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33This and other technological advances of the period,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36like steam power, allowed travelling showmen
0:17:36 > 0:17:40to take more and more elaborate circuses out on the road.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45The most celebrated of these was "Lord" George Sanger.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47He travelled around towns and villages
0:17:47 > 0:17:51with at least ten wagons loaded with equipment
0:17:51 > 0:17:54requiring 150 horses to pull them.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58In a convoy that would stretch for miles.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Sanger took the circus to the people.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05And everyone flocked to see it.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10He boasted that there would not be a town in England with a population more than 100
0:18:10 > 0:18:13that a Sanger's circus wouldn't have visited.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21He was so successful that, in 1871,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26he purchased Astley's thriving amphitheatre in London.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31Permanent shows were still drawing the crowds
0:18:31 > 0:18:36and the Victorian period saw more and more intricate and glamorous buildings
0:18:36 > 0:18:38spring up to showcase the circus.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Every major city in United Kingdom had a permanent building.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45And the giveaway is in the name.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47When you see something called the Hippodrome,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50you know its roots was a circus building.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55The word "hippodrome" comes from the Greek words, "hippos" for horse,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and "dromos" for race or course.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03One of the most impressive circus buildings was created
0:19:03 > 0:19:06in the seaside town of Blackpool.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10We are now in the Tower Circus, which is the oldest continuous circus
0:19:10 > 0:19:15in the United Kingdom in continuous use. It was founded in 1894.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19The wonderful interiors that you see now are 1899, 1900.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25And this is still the permanent site for circus in United Kingdom,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28always has been and always will be.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38But this Victorian heyday was not to last.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43By the end of the 19th century, the circus faced a rival for the public's affections.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Music hall had been growing in strength
0:19:46 > 0:19:51and audiences in large towns suddenly had a more diverse choice of entertainment on offer.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55As a result, the circus suffered a decline in popularity
0:19:55 > 0:19:59and some of the permanent buildings were forced to close.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07It was years before a showman came along who would turn the fortunes of the circus around.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09In the '20s, you get Bertram Mills,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12who comes in and takes over the circus at Olympia
0:20:12 > 0:20:17and turns it again into something that Londoners see as part of their everyday holiday.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Bertram Mills put on the most lavish circus shows
0:20:21 > 0:20:24that the capital had ever seen.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26He made circus a real event again
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and became renowned for showcasing performers of the highest calibre.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37I think the thing about Bertram Mills was that he really was
0:20:37 > 0:20:39interested in quality.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43He would bring people in from all the big international shows
0:20:43 > 0:20:48and made British circus again a truly international phenomenon.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51And people considered it a very prestigious thing
0:20:51 > 0:20:53to be able to work for Mills.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58He had established his position where it was awfully good for your prestige to have worked for him.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Bertram Mills presented the circus at its best,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06combining glamorous, highly skilled performances
0:21:06 > 0:21:11with comedy and exotic novelty acts audiences couldn't find anywhere else.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15- NEWSREEL:- 'Now for the piece de resistance...'
0:21:15 > 0:21:18You had things like the tight-walking lion.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21'Walking along a tightrope looks easy, but the animal knows
0:21:21 > 0:21:26'it's the directing eye and hand of his trainer that will see him safely over.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29'One slip and the whole act will end in pandemonium
0:21:29 > 0:21:31'and perhaps injury to man and beast.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34'It's a fine act that will earn great applause.'
0:21:34 > 0:21:38He had this amazing female magician called Koringa,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43who could actually mesmerise crocodiles.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'The crocodile looks fierce but watch her quietly.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52'See how stiff it's gone, proving that it's completely under her control,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55'and will do anything she willed it.'
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Bertram Mills managed to reignite the popularity of the circus but he,
0:22:01 > 0:22:06like other circus proprietors, faced a new adversary.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10An organisation called the Performing Animals Defence League
0:22:10 > 0:22:14had been lobbying Parliament to pass a bill prohibiting the use of performing animals.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18A select committee was set up in 1921 to investigate.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Although a resulting bill in 1925 did introduce regulations,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25it did not call for a ban.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30So, the circus was able to continue as it had always done.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Over the coming decades, it was to prove more popular than ever,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41thanks to the new medium of television.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44TV pioneers were quick to recognise
0:22:44 > 0:22:46the visual richness of circus
0:22:46 > 0:22:50and used it to demonstrate the new medium in 1946.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Then, in 1950, the BBC deemed it important enough
0:22:57 > 0:23:04to take centre stage in the first live outside broadcast from France.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07- NEWSREEL:- 'August 27th, 1950.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11'As our filmed pictures end, and live sound and vision
0:23:11 > 0:23:13'reach out across the dark waters of the Channel...'
0:23:15 > 0:23:19'Probably you'll realise that should the girl
0:23:19 > 0:23:22'miss the edge of the table as she comes down,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26'with her hands, it would be her neck that would hit it.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28'Three chairs.'
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Broadcasters saw that the circus worked well on television
0:23:35 > 0:23:38and were excited by its potential to pull in viewers.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42So, in the early '50s,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45the BBC made overtures to Billy Smart.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50And the showman embraced the opportunity with both hands.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52# Come to the circus
0:23:54 > 0:23:55# Come to the circus
0:23:55 > 0:23:58# See the circus... #
0:23:58 > 0:24:02I think they paid us a large sum of £200 for a one-hour show.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04We were glad to do it.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Smart's signed to the BBC in 1952,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11for a deal that would go on to last over 20 years.
0:24:11 > 0:24:18Chipperfield's were courted by ITV and took the plunge in 1955.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21But not everyone was quite so easily seduced.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25The Bertram Mills Circus had had to be rebuilt
0:24:25 > 0:24:27after the impact of music hall.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28They steered clear,
0:24:28 > 0:24:33fearing that television could have a similar negative impact.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37The arrival of television actually was a boom period for the circus in the '50s,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40because the Smarts allowing the circus to be filmed,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42it actually got it to a wider audience.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46So in some ways it was their best advance publicity they could get.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48They didn't need someone to fly the town any more
0:24:48 > 0:24:50because they had the television.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56The love affair between television and circus was rewarded with massive viewing figures.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00One Christmas I think we had just over 20 million viewers,
0:25:00 > 0:25:05and we got what they call the Silver Camera Award,
0:25:05 > 0:25:10which you get - when you've got 20 million viewers, you get the Silver Camera.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12But, you know, it wasn't a true story,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15because, quite honestly, it was more than 20 million
0:25:15 > 0:25:19because they went to 30 other countries at the same time.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22So you imagine, you add all that 30 countries to the 20 million,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26I don't know how many millions we'd be talking about, but would be a lot of people.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39I actually loved it on TV.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Almost as much as I loved it in the flesh.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46It was in black-and-white,
0:25:46 > 0:25:52so you are deprived of perhaps 70% of what was actually the splendour of going to the circus.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57But the fact that in a circus you are in a fixed vantage point,
0:25:57 > 0:25:58you're watching at one angle.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01The TV did have that advantage
0:26:01 > 0:26:02of three or more cameras,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06which bring to life the circus from all sorts of different viewpoints.
0:26:08 > 0:26:14For Billy Smart's and the BBC, it was a partnership made in heaven.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18The next day you had a queue at your box office, if the show was good, and it was good.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23As result of their success, the Smart family
0:26:23 > 0:26:25began to mix with Hollywood stars.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35Billy's son, Billy Smart Junior, became a celebrity in his own right and a tabloid favourite.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40He appeared in gossip columns which hinted at liaisons with well-known starlets.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44He certainly was the playboy of the circus, there was no doubt about it.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Among his rumoured conquests was Jayne Mansfield.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52I don't think Billy got that friendly!
0:26:52 > 0:26:55But she did get particularly up close and personal
0:26:55 > 0:26:59to one of the star acts of Smart's Circus, Burma the elephant.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03She would lay down, and Burma would come in to the special music.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05DRUM ROLL
0:27:05 > 0:27:08And she was so scared, she kept calling for her husband,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11"Mickey, Mickey, I can't do this, I can't do this!"
0:27:14 > 0:27:17But she did do it! She got up
0:27:17 > 0:27:19and she was very pleased she did it, actually.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24The link to the wider entertainment world
0:27:24 > 0:27:28helped circus appeal across all classes.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33When you had a big gala show, a lot of stars used to turn up
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and they'd want to take part.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Even the Bertram Mills Circus allowed the cameras in
0:27:41 > 0:27:45to capture the Queen attending a performance in 1952.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47All the ambassadors used to go,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51all the celebrities, the celebs of the day.
0:27:51 > 0:27:57I remember going one year, Field Marshal Montgomery was there, and Winston Churchill was there.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59It was very interesting.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Television pushed circus to the forefront
0:28:04 > 0:28:08of our popular culture, but with the success came pressure.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14Proprietors had to work harder and harder to seek out fresh acts
0:28:14 > 0:28:16to keep a mass audience interested.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22But circus had long been a global phenomenon.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26There was a whole world of acts out there to choose from.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Even at the height of the Cold War, international borders
0:28:34 > 0:28:38were no barrier for circus people, as Ronnie found out when he went to Russia.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42I was booking a programme for the BBC,
0:28:42 > 0:28:47and the BBC had the entry to get into the eastern zone, you know, the other zone.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51And I remember getting in the cab and getting across the border.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54I was so surprised to get through,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57the word "circus", we're agents for the circus and BBC,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00and they just let us through, actually.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04But anyway, we did get there, we did see some sensational Russian acts,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06which were outstanding.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10They quickly snapped them up for their show.
0:29:10 > 0:29:15The Soviets had long valued the cultural importance of the circus.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19There were over 70 circus buildings in the Soviet Union,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22as well as a network of specialist training schools.
0:29:22 > 0:29:28Thousands of circus performers were employees of the state.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32In the years following the war, they were so keen to show off
0:29:32 > 0:29:36the advantages of their "people's culture", that, in 1956,
0:29:36 > 0:29:40the Moscow State Circus was dispatched to London.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44The fruits of the Soviet system were to be seen by all.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50The British, it seemed, couldn't get enough of the circus.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Demand was such, up and down the country, that all the major circuses
0:29:54 > 0:29:59did their best to satisfy it by taking their shows out on tour.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05They took them to every town, even the UK's most northerly city.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13In that time, Inverness was a smallish town.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16It had one very, very small theatre,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19but here was a West End show from London
0:30:19 > 0:30:23that came and parked and it was absolutely fabulous.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25I was blown away with it.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28And they came every three years after that.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32The arrival of the circus was a hugely exciting event for the locals.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35And the circus proprietors made the most of it,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39putting on spectacular parades to announce that they were in town.
0:30:47 > 0:30:54People, I think, have forgotten how important a part of social ritual it was in this country.
0:30:57 > 0:31:02And the parade would be clowns preceding them, giving out flyers.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05They'd be followed by ladies on horseback.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Occasionally, if you were very, very lucky,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12a lion would be in a cage, pulled along by horses.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16The elephants would go up Market Street
0:31:16 > 0:31:22and it happened in winter, in the bleak, miserable greyness of winter.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25Watching the parade lived long in the memory.
0:31:25 > 0:31:31But one lucky teenager in 1962 was given the opportunity to take part.
0:31:34 > 0:31:40Way back when I was 16, we saw an advert in the local newspaper,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44when the circus - Billy Smart's Circus - came to town,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47and they were asking for girls to ride the elephants
0:31:47 > 0:31:51from the local train station where they arrived to where they were performing.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56There was a catch -
0:31:56 > 0:31:59you had to be wearing your bathing suit
0:31:59 > 0:32:01and it was the middle of winter.
0:32:01 > 0:32:0416th December, to be exact.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07So my mother decided that I should volunteer.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09So we went down to the auditions.
0:32:09 > 0:32:14Well, it wasn't really an audition - it was just whoever was brave enough to do it.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16And I got picked.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21So we had to turn up at the station, and it was freezing!
0:32:21 > 0:32:26We all had our coats on but underneath... Oh, and we had to wear high heels as well.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28And then the elephants arrived.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37It was like, "Oh, my gosh, how are we going to get on top of them?"
0:32:37 > 0:32:41So the one that I was stood next to, he just put his leg up like this,
0:32:41 > 0:32:44and the man said to me, "Put your leg up."
0:32:46 > 0:32:48So I hauled myself up.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51He had, like, chains round his neck, so I got hold of the chains,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54and just hauled myself up.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57And then we set off through the streets.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02It must have been well advertised because there was hundreds of people watching and cheering
0:33:02 > 0:33:03for the circus.
0:33:05 > 0:33:11If you put your animals on the train, they have to walk back from the station to the circus site
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and that's the best publicity you could have.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18I mean, the girls, we'd have about six to eight girls,
0:33:18 > 0:33:19and they'd ride camels
0:33:19 > 0:33:22and do elephant riding, looking gorgeous
0:33:22 > 0:33:23and all that sort of thing.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28It was fantastic. Something that I've obviously never forgotten.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31I've loved elephants ever since.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35I mean, where are children going to see 20 elephants walk along the street,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39amongst tram cars, etc? Which we did.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43If a circus parade walked through Oxford Street now,
0:33:43 > 0:33:49I think it would be just as mind-blowing as it had been 60 years ago.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51But the parade wasn't all about animals.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Taking a lead role would be the clown -
0:33:53 > 0:33:56an important figure in every circus.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01You could say that the clown was the linchpin of the circus.
0:34:01 > 0:34:07He will fill in. He will tell the jokes that keep the audience amused
0:34:07 > 0:34:11whilst one act goes off and the other act comes on.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Whilst a lot of the focus of the circus is on exceptional human ability
0:34:15 > 0:34:19and consists of performers at their physical peak...
0:34:19 > 0:34:21the clown is portrayed as the opposite -
0:34:21 > 0:34:23clumsy and silly.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29He wears big shoes and, of course, the idea of...
0:34:29 > 0:34:33the grotesque parts of the body are enhanced,
0:34:33 > 0:34:39so the big shoes and a big nose sort of signifies a fool.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45One of the most famous clowns of all time was Latvian-born Coco.
0:34:45 > 0:34:46COCO LAUGHS
0:34:46 > 0:34:48You like that one.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53- NEWSREEL:- 'Here's Coco to say hello.
0:34:53 > 0:34:58'And not being able to raise his hat, does the next best thing.'
0:34:58 > 0:35:01But in fact, he wasn't technically a clown at all.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04The clown is the white face.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08A lot of people think the clown is the guy with the red nose.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12The clown is the white-faced clown with a sparkly costume.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16Coco was an auguste.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19The auguste is usually the one with the red nose,
0:35:19 > 0:35:21which people class as the clown.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27I think technically it comes from the German word "a fool" - "August."
0:35:27 > 0:35:31And he's the red nose - he's the one that gets everything wrong.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Clowns are one of the few circus acts who have become celebrities in their own right.
0:35:38 > 0:35:44This may be do with the fact that clowns generally served long residencies in individual circuses,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48allowing them to build up a lasting relationship with their audience.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Coco worked for decades for the Bertram Mills Circus.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00With the advent of television, Coco became even more popular,
0:36:00 > 0:36:03a friendly face with a familiar sense of humour.
0:36:03 > 0:36:09In the 1960s, he appeared in a campaign to teach children about road safety.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13But whilst TV was kind to the clown, the exposure it brought
0:36:13 > 0:36:16was devastating for other acts that relied on the element of surprise.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Once their act had been seen by the massive TV audience,
0:36:20 > 0:36:24it lost its novelty and was difficult to repeat.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28And this wasn't the only problem that television created for the circus.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30As broadcasting came of age,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33the choice of programmes on offer increased, and with television
0:36:33 > 0:36:37becoming a much bigger draw, live entertainment took a bashing.
0:36:38 > 0:36:44The fears of Bertram Mills were proved right. The circus began to lose some of its appeal.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48Business did drop off during the television times, of course,
0:36:48 > 0:36:54when television got stronger and people were staying at home and not going out to shows.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58I mean, we were doing OK but not as good as we would like to have done.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03The television was now a rival to the circus
0:37:03 > 0:37:07and this spelt disaster for some of Britain's biggest circuses.
0:37:08 > 0:37:14One of the first and most dramatic casualties was the Bertram Mills Circus in 1965.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19'And now the Rolls-Royce of circuses, the greatest road show of them all,
0:37:19 > 0:37:24'has ground to a final halt here at Ascot, and is selling up.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30'This is only one tiny part of the vast wardrobe which,
0:37:30 > 0:37:36'for 35 years, has gaudily clad the Bertram Mills Travelling Circus.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42'They're all coming under the hammer here at the Bertram Mills Winter Quarters at Ascot.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46'The Big Top, the really Big Pop, just doesn't pay any more.'
0:37:46 > 0:37:49'The tented towns are disappearing,
0:37:49 > 0:37:54'forced out of business by the sheer economics of the 1960s.'
0:37:54 > 0:37:56So, ironically, the Bertram Mills Circus,
0:37:56 > 0:38:00which had refused to be televised, was one of the first victims.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03His son had to suffer the indignity of a public auction.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Mr Mills, you're one of the joint managing directors of Bertram Mills Circus,
0:38:08 > 0:38:14and how do you personally feel about the end of the travelling circus, your own travelling circus?
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Well, having been at it for about 35 years,
0:38:18 > 0:38:21naturally, I'm sad that it's over.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26Does this mean the death of all travelling circuses, do you think?
0:38:26 > 0:38:27Good heavens, no. Why should it?
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Well, if it was very costly and uneconomic for you to run,
0:38:30 > 0:38:32why should anybody else be able to do it?
0:38:32 > 0:38:37Maybe other people are cleverer than we are. I hope they are because I don't want to see it die.
0:38:38 > 0:38:39They weren't alone.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Sanger's Circus closed in 1962
0:38:42 > 0:38:45and within a couple of years, another of the circus giants,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48Chipperfield's, emigrated to South Africa.
0:38:48 > 0:38:55# And away went my very last day as a child
0:38:55 > 0:39:00# The day that the circus
0:39:00 > 0:39:04# Left town... #
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Even Billy Smart's parked up their caravans
0:39:06 > 0:39:11and gave up regular touring in 1971.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13The overheads, you know,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15cost so much money to move from town to town.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18It was a sad time, actually.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21It looked as if circus might be over for good.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26But all was not lost and the departure of the big circuses actually opened up
0:39:26 > 0:39:29new opportunities for smaller circuses to get a foothold.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34The spirit of Bertram Mills would live on, thanks to a young outsider
0:39:34 > 0:39:38who, like so many before him, had fallen in love with the circus.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43The first circus I saw was Bertram Mills' circus in Olympia.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45And... I just don't know - from that day I just wanted
0:39:45 > 0:39:48to be the boss, and that was it.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51And I never really wanted to be the world's greatest juggler
0:39:51 > 0:39:55or flying trapeze act or an animal trainer. I just knew I wanted to be the boss.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58At the age of 15, Gerry Cottle ran away from home,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02and after a few years of working for other people,
0:40:02 > 0:40:07achieved his ambition and started his own circus in 1970.
0:40:07 > 0:40:13He went into business with his friend, Brian Austin,
0:40:13 > 0:40:17but in order to make it work, they would have to do things very differently.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20- TV REPORTER:- 'They're an odd pair to be in partnership.
0:40:20 > 0:40:26'Gerry Cottle is the outfit's tycoon. An ex-grammar schoolboy, the son of a stockbroker,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29'he is the business manager, the public relations department,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32'the publicity and advertising division.'
0:40:32 > 0:40:37- I'll put it in the corner.- All right. - Tell everybody about it, won't you? - I will do.- It's a very good show.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39You'll enjoy it.
0:40:41 > 0:40:42'We took a show out.
0:40:42 > 0:40:47'We had an old tent that we bought in Ireland.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49'We had a limited budget.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52'We didn't have any facilities.'
0:40:52 > 0:40:54They were determined to make a go of it.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02'There's still a lot of heavy work before the show can be put on.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06'Seats to be carried in and put up, cables to lay, lights to fix,
0:41:06 > 0:41:10'the amplifier to rig, the props to check, the generator to service,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14'a trailer wheel to change and diesel oil to fetch.'
0:41:16 > 0:41:18It was very hard work.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Yeah, it was difficult, but I just think we just did it.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24We had to do it, and we went out...
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Circuses traditionally never started till Easter,
0:41:27 > 0:41:31but we needed the money, we needed the turnover, not always a profit,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34so we'd start late February, half-term in February.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37The weather was terrible. I've got pictures of us knee-deep in snow!
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Tent about to collapse. We didn't think of anything else. It's what we wanted to do.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46Life on the road for a small circus was tough.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Unlike the big circuses that had come before,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52they did everything themselves to make ends meet.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54It was relentless work.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56When we did the one-day stands in the early days,
0:41:56 > 0:42:02you'd get up about five o'clock, drive to the next town, you'd put the tent up.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04You'd get ready for letting people in the door,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07selling tickets or starting the generator.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Three children?
0:42:10 > 0:42:13In-between, you'd practise if you wanted to practise.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Are you ready?
0:42:15 > 0:42:16Right. Ready?
0:42:16 > 0:42:19And then you'd do the shows at five o'clock.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25and welcome to the circus.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27It's on with the show. Here come the clowns!
0:42:27 > 0:42:30THEY SHOUT
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Keeping the string in the magic bag...and they come out Tide!
0:42:35 > 0:42:38I'd better get off.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41Ta-ta, boys and girls.
0:42:41 > 0:42:42Ooh, I say!
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Even after the show, there wasn't any rest.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50- What've you done with that bulb, Brian?- It's over the back there.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Everything had to be packed up before bed,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55ready to move on again in the morning.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00It was non non-stop. I must've been a terrible husband because I just worked,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04you know, I wasn't really a great father in that respect.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06Hello. Ooh! Good morning.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15For small circuses, moving around from site to site
0:43:15 > 0:43:19on a daily basis, living conditions were fairly basic.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21There's no electric on all day.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26You have to run generators for that, and there wasn't the silent generators like there is now.
0:43:26 > 0:43:27There wasn't washing machines.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Every town you're in is different. You've then got to find the shops or the supermarket.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38Another crucial aspect of life on the road
0:43:38 > 0:43:42was ensuring the children were able to get an education.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48If you were born into the circus, life was anything but ordinary.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Typical day would be the circus would move in the morning,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55so we'd get up at six o'clock, drive through to the next town,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57probably only moving 15 or 20 miles,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01we'd arrive in the town and my mum's first job was to find the local school.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05You arrive in Coventry on a Sunday night,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09you've got to find a new school at 8.30 in the morning on Monday morning in a city like Coventry,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12and there is some kind of help for it, but it's not easy.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17And I actually went to some 350 different primary schools!
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Schooling often had to be fitted in wherever it could.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30They're usually very hard workers, circus kids. They're used to kind of erratic hours.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35And in-between performing and schoolwork, there was practising.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Mum would pick me up at three o'clock,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40then it would be straight back, I had a sandwich and a glass of milk,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44and then I'd have to get changed into my clown clothes,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48and we'd have shows at five o'clock, I'd do the five o'clock show, the 7.30 show.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53- TV REPORTER:- 'Invariably, children born on the road have the wanderlust in their blood,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56'and stay in the circus game all their lives.'
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Children often follow their parents into the same act.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03When you're born into clown aristocracy,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06the boots are very big to fill.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11My father was Charlie Cairoli, Carletto, as he was known in France.
0:45:11 > 0:45:17My mother was Violet Fratellini from the Fratellini clowns.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22Charlie was born in Milan to a travelling circus family of French origin.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26He began his performing career at the age of seven.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29He went on to become an international star.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32In due course, his son, Charlie Junior, joined him in his act.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35I did laugh with my father.
0:45:35 > 0:45:36I had nine years with him
0:45:36 > 0:45:38where I started off as a stooge
0:45:38 > 0:45:41and ended up doing the white face, and I laughed.
0:45:46 > 0:45:47Ah!
0:45:48 > 0:45:50He would do things like...
0:45:50 > 0:45:56His noses were made out of putty, and he used to varnish them and redden them every day.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Some days, he would get a dead fly, cos there was animals there, and stick it on his nose.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05Then he'd walk in the ring, nobody could see it, but when you're working very close to somebody,
0:46:05 > 0:46:07he'd be going, "Ph, ph, ph!" Like that.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11All you wanted to do was pull this fly off!
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Oh, I got the other one now!
0:46:18 > 0:46:21He just did joke after joke after joke.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Charlie Cairoli had a long-reaching career
0:46:24 > 0:46:30and performed every summer season at Blackpool Tower Circus for 40 years.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34Many circus performers lead much more transitory lives.
0:46:34 > 0:46:39Acts from all over the world come together for maybe just one season, and then go their separate ways.
0:46:41 > 0:46:47But for the time they are together, circus life is all-encompassing and international.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49'You can have this extraordinary sense'
0:46:49 > 0:46:52of an extended family and a small supportive network,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56and it's great, and really good fun,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59and very sweet to see lots of different nationalities
0:46:59 > 0:47:03and people who might, you know, be culturally, politically
0:47:03 > 0:47:06opposed to each other just all getting on and having a nice time.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10You just think, "Why can't the world be like a circus? Just get on!"
0:47:10 > 0:47:15Circus people are a distinct community.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19Over the years, they've even developed their own means of communication.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21We have a proper language, a circus language.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24I can speak to my kids in front of you
0:47:24 > 0:47:26and you haven't got a clue what we're talking about.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29So, you know, you have this own language,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33which is a mixture of Italian, a mixture of Latin.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35Romany, a bit of Romany in it, I don't know why.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37A lot of kind of Army slang.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39For instance, you would call dogs buffers.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41Mangiare is food.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43Kind of nanti parlari, don't talk to that person there.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46The ground where the circus sets up on is called the tober.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48Dinari is money.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50Women are mozzies.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54These jags are the Noah's Ark, which means that person's a miserable sod.
0:47:54 > 0:47:55I could go on and on.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59There is a complete glossary of circus terms, which only circus people would know.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03If you had an outsider, they used to go, "He's a josser."
0:48:03 > 0:48:08A lot of times, the jossers had to prove themselves more.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11If you were from a circus family, you were accepted. "He'll be all right."
0:48:11 > 0:48:15If you were a josser, you had to really prove yourself, and it was hard.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Yet it was often the jossers, or outsiders,
0:48:20 > 0:48:25who would come in and turned around the fortunes of the circus.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Whether Bertram Mills or Billy Smart, and now,
0:48:28 > 0:48:33Gerry Cottle too was reaping the benefits of all of his hard work.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35Tickets, please.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39The Big Top was paying again.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46Those children who had grown up in the golden age of circus in the '50s and '60s
0:48:46 > 0:48:53were now eager to take their own children along to share the experience they'd had.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57A whole new generation were experiencing the thrill of the circus.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04But proprietors like Phillip Gandey tried not to repeat the mistakes of the past
0:49:04 > 0:49:07by keeping the circus on a manageable scale.
0:49:07 > 0:49:13'We actually made a conscious decision never to buy wild animals.'
0:49:13 > 0:49:18We didn't want to be stuck with very expensive animals that we couldn't move on, or wouldn't want to move on,
0:49:18 > 0:49:23because they come part of the family, so we hired them in and because the bigger circuses had closed,
0:49:23 > 0:49:28we were able to hire Billy Smart's elephants, we hired Mary Chipperfield's lions and tigers,
0:49:28 > 0:49:33so we didn't have to have that expenditure, which enabled us to buy property and invest in other things.
0:49:35 > 0:49:42Success bred competition, and circus owners found creative ways to make sure they gained the upper hand.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48Oh, the rivalry was...quite nasty, really, but good fun.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50I don't mind that at all.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53We had absolute what we called billing wars,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56taking each other's posters down and all that nonsense.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58I remember another time, my nephew...
0:49:58 > 0:50:01We were having trouble with this other circus.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03They'd had a day off and they came over to us
0:50:03 > 0:50:07and Bo took them out drinking and got them completely paralytic.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11He got them arrested and the next day, they missed the show!
0:50:11 > 0:50:15The police didn't let them go till mid afternoon. They had a long way to go back.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20But those things don't happen very often, but they do make it fun, but it was quite nasty.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23In the coming years, Gerry and the other showmen
0:50:23 > 0:50:26came up against a problem that was not so easy to deal with.
0:50:26 > 0:50:32The debate about performing animals that had little impact back in the 1920s would resurface.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35Reacting to mounting public opinion, some local authorities
0:50:35 > 0:50:38stopped allowing performing animals on their land.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43Animal circuses did survive, but this unofficial ban began to spread.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48One by one, all the major circus sites in the centre of the towns were being closed to us
0:50:48 > 0:50:51because the local authority would pass a ban saying no performing animals,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55so gradually, the big animal circuses were being forced out of the towns,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59onto sites which probably weren't as lucrative, weren't as visual,
0:50:59 > 0:51:04they just weren't as good for business, and I think people's taste was changing as well.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09An official ban on wild animal acts finally surfaced in 2011.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13As much as I loved seeing bears on bicycles,
0:51:13 > 0:51:15it's not what bears are designed to do.
0:51:15 > 0:51:21In the '80s and '90s, the traditional circus in Britain was suffering.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23It had become uneconomical yet again.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28Being the entrepreneurs they are, circus showmen looked for new opportunities elsewhere.
0:51:28 > 0:51:35Times were pretty tough, and I was quite adventurous. We went off to the Middle East, Bahrain and Oman,
0:51:35 > 0:51:40then a bit later we went off to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Phillip Gandey also looked for untapped markets.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49We identified that where we wanted to be was where there weren't circuses,
0:51:49 > 0:51:53so we looked at the Middle East, which didn't have a tradition of circuses,
0:51:53 > 0:51:55but had this culture, which was becoming westernised,
0:51:55 > 0:52:00and we had a huge contract for the royal family in Saudi Arabia
0:52:00 > 0:52:05and we took not one but two circuses simultaneously to Saudi Arabia.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09We took a 4,000-seat Big Top in one city for one prince,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12and a 2,000-seat Big Top in another city for the second prince.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Whilst the classic circus still appealed to international audiences,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20the British had grown disenchanted with it.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26But in 1990, audiences in the UK were treated to something altogether different.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33I'd never seen anything like it.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38It was men wearing leather jackets
0:52:38 > 0:52:43and basically having huge chainsaws, dropping down on steel wires.
0:52:43 > 0:52:49Archaos was created in France by Pierrot Bidon.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53He took the circus and reimagined it for the modern era.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Archaos was dangerous, very dangerous.
0:52:55 > 0:53:00But in this new world, it was the chainsaw
0:53:00 > 0:53:03and not the lion that would strike fear into the audience.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08- TV REPORTER:- 'The globe of death billed as one of the most dangerous acts in the circus world.
0:53:08 > 0:53:13'Two motorcyclists pass within inches of each other at 60mph.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16'The last time it was performed in Britain, a man died.'
0:53:16 > 0:53:19This edgy, all-human circus embodied the idea of a circus
0:53:19 > 0:53:23where physical ability was pushed to the extreme.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25It appealed to a new audience of young adults.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Archaos toured throughout the UK,
0:53:30 > 0:53:35culminating in a sell-out residence on Clapham Common for 12 weeks.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37It was chaotic, it was mad, amazing.
0:53:37 > 0:53:44Archaos had succeeded in transforming circus into a new kind of spectacle.
0:53:45 > 0:53:51But it wasn't until 1996 that, thanks to the arrival of another foreign production,
0:53:51 > 0:53:57this modern version of circus would itself be refashioned for a mainstream audience.
0:53:59 > 0:54:05State-funded Canadian circus Cirque du Soleil had a distinctive
0:54:05 > 0:54:10artistic approach, which combines street entertainment with traditional acrobatics.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13They came to the Royal Albert Hall in London,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17and that's when people started to take notice of contemporary circus.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23The fact that this circus appeared in the Albert Hall
0:54:23 > 0:54:27gave it a theatrical stamp and put it on a par with the other arts,
0:54:27 > 0:54:31raising the status of circus in many people's eyes.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35People who would not go to a tent to see a traditional circus,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39suddenly there was Cirque du Soleil, and it was everywhere.
0:54:39 > 0:54:45This was performance theatre and an unashamedly grown-up experience.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52All the papers, all the colour supplements had massive picture spreads on them.
0:54:56 > 0:55:02Cirque du Soleil has been phenomenally successful, expanding rapidly.
0:55:04 > 0:55:11They have now performed across the globe to an estimated audience of close to 100 million people.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20Cirque du Soleil have had a massive hand in creating a global circus
0:55:20 > 0:55:24that everybody finds very enthralling.
0:55:26 > 0:55:32And that was almost the start of a huge explosion in interest in circus.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35Circus is riding the crest of a new wave.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39In a world of computer-generated images,
0:55:39 > 0:55:47it seems the thrill of watching what real human beings are really capable of achieving is stronger than ever,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50and its impact is being felt right across the arts.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53You see circus absolutely everywhere.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59I don't think there is a performing art now, which doesn't have circus art,
0:55:59 > 0:56:00be it ballet or be it rock concerts.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04The demand for circus performers is at an all-time high.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07# Everybody let go, we can make a dancefloor just like a circus. #
0:56:07 > 0:56:10There were two big pop tours out recently,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12Take That and Britney Spears.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Both called Circus, both with a huge amount of circus artists.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18# Just like a circus, don't stand there watching me
0:56:18 > 0:56:22# Follow me show me what you can do. #
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Alongside this corporate entertainment market,
0:56:25 > 0:56:30there's even room for the emergence of local small-scale heritage circuses,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33like the one run by Nell Gifford.
0:56:35 > 0:56:41Once again, a new circus is the brainchild of an outsider, a josser.
0:56:41 > 0:56:47Oxford graduate Gifford, who first ran away to join the circus at 18.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52Just like the creation of Astley's first circus back in 1768,
0:56:52 > 0:56:57it's her passion for horses that started the whole thing off.
0:56:57 > 0:57:03The whole kind of notion of horses in theatre, I just find it really, really interesting.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08A horse's presence, it really creates a sort of sense of occasion,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11like a sense of adventure.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19It's probably exactly what a small family circus in the 1930s was like.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24Heritage circus tapped straight into a deep-rooted nostalgia
0:57:24 > 0:57:27for our rural past, and for communal experience.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34I think that the excitement of the circus arriving in a village is completely undiminished.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38I mean, still now, you get people who'll come out and have picnics
0:57:38 > 0:57:41and watch us putting the tent up and watch us taking the tent down,
0:57:41 > 0:57:46or like children standing on doorsteps watching the circus wagons arriving.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48It's genuinely exciting.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52The success of Gifford's brings the story full circle.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57It proves that people are just as keen as ever to traipse over muddy fields to see the circus.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00The circus has got an incredible future.
0:58:00 > 0:58:06It's part of a whole enthusiasm and appetite for exciting live stuff,
0:58:06 > 0:58:12and I think that the more sort of digital our experience of the world is,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16then the more that that live experience will also be sought after by the public.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23Circus has managed to fight off every threat that has come its way,
0:58:23 > 0:58:27from the music hall to the television and the digital age.
0:58:28 > 0:58:35Incredibly, it has survived to leave its magical mark on all our imaginations.
0:58:57 > 0:59:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:00 > 0:59:02E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk