@import url("/common/primary.css"); Contrary to popular belief, the circus as we know it did not originate in Ancient Rome, although several of the components that are part of a circus performance (tumbling, juggling, rope-dancing, for instance) can trace their roots back more than two thousand years. Join us as we explore the history of classical circus throughout the ages. The modern circus was invented in England by Philip Astley (1742-1814), a former Sergeant Major turned showman. The son of a cabinetmaker and veneer cutter, Astley had served during the Seven-Year War (the French and Indian War) in Colonel Eliott's Fifteenth Light Dragoon Regiment, where he displayed an outstanding talent as a horse trainer. Upon his discharge, Astley chose to imitate the trick-riders who exhibited with increasing success all over Europe. Jacob Bates, an English equestrian based in the German States who performed as far as Russia (1764-65) and America (1772-73), was the first of these new showmen to make his mark. Bates' emulators, Price, Johnson, Balp, Coningham, Faulkes, "Old" Sampson and many others, had become fixtures of London's pleasure gardens and inspired Philip Astley. In 1768, Astley settled in London and opened a | |
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