Wednesday 28 May 2014

Thomas Chipperfield, Britain's last big cat trainer

My cover story on Thomas Chipperfield
in the Telegraph magazine

24-year-old Thomas Chipperfield comes from a family that has been training animals since the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames in 1684. Currently appearing with Peter Jolly's Circus, he is the only lion and tiger trainer left in the UK, and if a proposed ban on wild animals in circuses comes into force next year, he will probably be the last.

Click here to read my review of Peter Jolly's Circus, one of the last traditional big top shows still providing a glimpse of the sawdust circle the way it used to be.

And whether you're for or against animals in the circus, click here to read my exclusive interview with Thomas Chipperfield, Britain's last big cat trainer, in the Daily Telegraph magazine.



What can a cat man do?
Thomas Chipperfield and Tsavo the lion
relax before the show - and contemplate their
future if a ban on wild animals in the circus
comes into force next year.