Figure 1.--This looks to be Chipperfields Circus with children looking at the animals in the circus menagerie about 1960.

The term circus was used in England well before the circus as we know it today existed. The term of course originated in Rome. John Wood was interested in Roman architecture and he knew that Bath had been founded by the Romans. He thus designed a number of Roman-style monuments to beautify Bath (18th century). The Circus Wood created was to be an area for sports, which were at the time developing in England. Wood's circus became a circle of town houses. The most famous circus in England is of course Piccadilly Circus. It is a famous London road junction and public space in the West End of the City of Westminster. Piccadilly Circus was built to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly (1819). At the time a circus in England as derived from the Latin word meaning a circle, particularly an open space at a street junction. This meaning never was adopted in America. The circus in ancient Rome meant more than a circle. It was a structure designed for various kinds of exhibitions or shows involving shows, races, and other exhibitions involving horses and trained animasls. The connection with horses was particularly strong. This included horse, chariot races, and equestrian shows. Thus the term of circus was adopted for the shows becoming populsar at the time in England. And these shows initially had a very strong equestrian character. Philip Astley in London is commonly credited with founding the modern circus, although he never used the term. The first known performance was January 9, 1768. His show featured trick horse-riding into a ring which he called the Circle. Eventually the diameter of the circle had to be sandardized so that the show could accomodate various acts. It was set at 42 feet (13 m), which was the size of a circle or ring needed for horses to circle at full gallop. It was a competitor, John Hughes, who adopted the term circus. He set up his Royal Circus near stley's 'Amphitheatre of Equestrian Arts' in Lambeth, London. The early English shows combined with developments on the continent and Amerca developed into the modern circus. From the very beginning the circus had a special appeal to children. An English reader writes, " I saw the interesting HBC page on Belgian circuses. It reminded me of out family outings to see the circus, Like the Belgians in the photigraph, we also dressed up when we went on outings like that. Now we dress down."

Terminology

The term circus was used in England well before the circus as we know it today existed. The term of course originated in Rome. John Wood was interested in Roman architecture and he knew that Bath had been founded by the Romans. He thus designed a number of Roman-style monuments to beautify Bath (18th century). The Circus Wood created was to be an area for sports, which were at the time developing in England. Wood's circus became a circle of town houses. The most famous circus in England is of course Piccadilly Circus. It is a famous London road junction and public space in the West End of the City of Westminster. Piccadilly Circus was built to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly (1819). At the time a circus in England as derived from the Latin word meaning a circle, particularly an open space at a street junction. This meaning never was adopted in America. The circus in ancient Rome meant more than a circle. It was a structure designed for various kinds of exhibitions or shows involving shows, races, and other exhibitions involving horses and trained animasls. The connection with horses was particularly strong. This included horse, chariot races, and equestrian shows. Thus the term of circus was adopted for the shows becoming populsar at the time in England. And these shows initially had a very strong equestrian character.

History

Philip Astley in London is commonly credited with founding the modern circus, although he never used the term. The first known performance was January 9, 1768. His show featured trick horse-riding into a ring which he called the Circle. Eventually the diameter of the circle had to be sandardized so that the show could accomodate various acts. It was set at 42 feet (13 m), which was the size of a circle or ring needed for horses to circle at full gallop. It was a competitor, John Hughes, who adopted the term circus. He set up his Royal Circus near stley's 'Amphitheatre of Equestrian Arts' in Lambeth, London. The early English shows combined with developments on the continent and Amerca developed into the modern circus.

Children

From the very beginning the circus had a special appeal to children. Children commonly worked in the circus as performers. Others dreamed of runnng away with the circus. Many more were enthralled by attendung circus performances. A HB reader tells us about his boyhood circus experiences. An English reader writes, " I saw the interesting HBC page on Belgian circuses. It reminded me of our family outings to see the circus, Like the Belgians in the photograph, we also dressed up when we went on outings like that. Now we dress down."

Interest

Circuses were very much like Pied Pipers in that they attracted kids from all over the town once it had been billed with posters advertising a show was coming. Boys at the time did not have all the many opportunities and diversionsd that modern biys have. Some of us would hang about the circus ground long before the show was due to pull on to it, all that would be there was a booking office and a caravan. Very soon short lived friendships were formed with other boys and once the circus had left town, you probably wouldn�t see those you became friendly with until the next circus came the following year. The big three Smarts, Mills and Chipperfields would tour different parts of the country. Smarts might take the East Coast one-year and Mills would take it the following year.

Seasonality

During the summer season from March until November circuses would be touring the country under canvas. While in winter many would play in such places like Olympia, which is where Bertram Mills Circus played until the circus closed in 1967. Other fixed venues were Belle View in Manchester, Kelvin Hall Glasgow. Great Yarmouth in Norfolk and the most famous of all Blackpool Tower Circus. Moving a circus has now become a logistical nightmare, in the 1950s and 60s the cost of moving a circus from one town to the next was in the hundreds, now it�s well into thousands of pounds.

British and American Circuses

Unlike American Circuses, British ones traveled by road, with the exception of Bertram Mills, which went by rail. Furthermore, British and European circuses unlike their American counterparts used a single 42 foot diameter ring as opposed to three rings. Another item which British circuses lacked was that of the midway that American circuses have.

Stands

Depending on the size of the town a circus would do a one-week stand for a large town or a three-day stand if the town was a small one. A circus would play a large city such as Birmingham or Glasgow over a two-week period. The Sunday parade not only affords much valued publicity, it also serves as a means of enticing the public to follow it to the circus site. These parades were often held in the afternoon once the big top had been erected. Some of the 1960 parade of Billy Smarts Circus was given over to one of the two special attractions to be shown in the main performance, one of these was the Wild West Spectacular

Created: 10:10 PM 9/3/2009
Last updated: 6:20 AM 9/10/2009