Clowns - Don'tcha just love 'em?

Just trying out my new camera! (Scarily, the blink detector came on when I took this shot! Not sure which one blinked - and not sure I want to know!)

Click here for 10 Fun Facts About Clowns!

Oh, and if you suffer from coulrophobia - that's the fear of clowns - DON'T click here!

Royal Approval for The Showman's Girl!

From Afghanistan to Vietnam, Italy to India and Peru to China, participants in 47 countries around the globe staged special events to celebrate World Circus Day on April 20. I was proud to do my bit to represent the UK and celebrate the day by giving away my newly launched ebook The Showman’s Girl as a free download on iTunes.
And, to prove my involvement, it was an honour to receive the above certificate from HSH Princess Stephanie of Monaco, Honorary President of the Federation Mondiale du Cirque.

The Showman’s Girl follows the adventures of Emily, who runs away with the circus in the 1930s.
If you missed the free download, you can still buy it from iTunes for just 49p!

Or you can borrow the Linford edition paperback from your local library for free!

World Circus Day 5 will be celebrated on April 19, 2014. But if you can't wait until then for some circus slapstick, International Clown Week begins this August 1st!

Easy Tiger!

After my previous post with a picture of a lady and a very relaxed leopard, here's one of a gal and her tiger in a rather more playful pose. The game girl is Mabel Stark, one of the most celebrated big cat trainers from the golden age of the American circus in the 1920s. Wrestling with her favourite kitty, Rajah, was all part of her act, hence her tough leather suit. Mabel and Rajah got on so well that he used to share her bed on the Ringling Brothers circus train, although there were several ocassions when life in the big cat cage got out of hand and she was badly mauled by less house-trained lions and tigers, both in training sessions and in front of the public. Her life is told in fictional form in Robert Hough's novel The Final Confession of Mabel Stark. It's a rollicking read, similar in many ways to Water For Elephants but far, far better in it's depiction of blood, guts and sawdust and its evocation of Stark's spunky, spiky voice. Click over to the Circus Mania blog to read my review of The Final Confession of Mabel Stark among my pick of 5 Great Circus Books for Summer Reading.

I love this picture of a lady and her leopard. It's a 1975 circus publicity shot from David Barnaby's biography of Britain's last big cat trainer Martin Lacey. Click over to the Circus Mania blog to read my review of The Great British Circus - Views of Martin Lacey (Book Guild).

World Juggling Day

Circus legend
Gerry Cottle
shows off his juggling
and fancy footwork

Didja know juggling can improve creativity and focus by uniting the left and right sides of the brain?

...that ancient Chinese warriors used to show off to their enemies by juggling before they went into battle?

... or that this Saturday, June 15 is World Juggling Day?

Visit my (br)other blog www.circusmania.blogspot.com to discover 15 Facts about Juggling

- and why not have ago yourself?

The perfect leopard-skin accessory!

One of my loves is the circus - just read the above extract from The Showman’s Girl. Another is old black and white photos in which people always look so much more glamorous than they do today.
So I couldn’t resist showing you this picture from David Barnaby’s new book The Great British Circus - Views of Martin Lacey (Book Guild).
The lady is Martin’s former wife June, seen here taking the circus takings to the bank. I can’t imagine her getting robbed with that little cheetah for protection!
The issue of animals in the circus is, of course, a thorny one. You can read more about it, including my interview with Martin Lacey, Britain’s last tiger trainer, on my (br)other blog Circus Mania.
Or, for a return to a more romantic times, download The Showman’s Girl and read about the adventures of a girl who runs away with the circus in the 1930s.