Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Circus proprietor who achieved his lifelong ambition to own a circus.
On the island
Eight records
American PieFavourite
I've been up and down the motorway so many times with my circus. I this tune just seems to get me going at about 70 mile an hour and I didn't say more.
Circus is very much parades and entrances and it's my whole life and Rodetzky March is a lovely circus tune that's used for parade and entrances and uh I think that would be one of my favorites.
They're full of life and I think I'll need cheering up when I'm on my own so I've chose Bucksfizz and one of their tunes London Town.
Summertime City, the signature tune of Seaside Special. It's going to remind me of all those lovely summer times because we had good fun with the BBC crew and everything.
I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am!)
Obviously a Gary Glitter record. Hello, hello, I'm back again. He was a great showman, Gary.
Johann Strauss Orchestra of Vienna
This new circus it relies very much on its choice of music and we we've tried to use romantic and circusy type tunes and a a tune that's always associated with the romantic dream of the trapeze going backwards and forwards is a gold and silver wolfs and I'd like to take that with me.
Billy Smart's Television Circus Band
My whole life is circus, you know, I I chose it, but I do love it. And Entry the Gladiators really is the most traditional circus tune that you hear all over the world.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:34Do you remember seeing your first circus?
Yes, I do. I was eight. … Jack Hilton's Circus at Earl's Court. The minute I saw that circus, I went home and … put a little circus together. But my best memories of circuses are the the kind of travelling circuses.
Presenter asks
4:26Did you tell your father [about your ambition to own a circus]?
Yes, and I mean I told my mother as well … My father was quite easy go. He was a very successful businessman, but he was easy go. My mother had other plans for me and I think it was a kind of battle with my father not on my side but more reasonable. And my mother wanted me to get some proper training, get rid of my silly ideas, do something concrete and recognise.
Presenter asks
4:56There's a story that as a kid you ran away and had to be fetched back from the circus. [Is that true?]
Well I did, yes. I mean it's it all sounds rather fairy tale. … instead of going to school one Saturday morning, I got on the train and went to Newcastle. … Went up to Newcastle, stayed up there for four or five days. I left my mother a note. I didn't ring them for four or five days, then I run them and they were both very sensible. Mum and Dad said, Look, come home, talk it over, see the headmaster. If you're really determined to join the circus, join it now.
The keepsakes
The book
I Love You Honey, But the Season's Over
Connie Clausen
And I think that would be a fun book because you've got to have a fun book with Shakespeare.
The luxury
I was never a marvellous juggler, that's why I ended up being the circus boss. But it's something I could practise for eight hours a day. If I really got bored, I could get better and better.
Presenter asks
13:07How did you start [your own circus]?
How I started my father was very, very good for me. I had a lot of understanding with my father and uh he was prepared to lend me five hundred pound. … I actually made my money to put the circus on. Not out of the circus. … I then got a couple of partners who were much older than me. … We went out totally undercapitalised.
Presenter asks
23:06How much did you lose [in Iran]?
Over a hundred thousand. … And I suppose if one had looked at it purely as a business exercise, which one doesn't with circus, I mean if you give a promise and you engage an artist even for a twelve week season in Iran and it all falls flat. You still pay them. You work very much on a gentleman's agreement with your artist and all your people especially, but also with your supplies as much as you can.
Presenter asks
30:49Could you look after yourself on a desert island?
I think so, yes. … Rig up a shelter? Yes, definitely. Live off the land? I haven't had to do it, but I think I'm practical enough. Because of my foreign trips and kind of starting from scratch and always being very practical, I think I could. Mm. I'd miss the people. I'd miss the company more than anything else.
“right from the age of seeing my first circus I had one total ambition, which I'm very grateful that I had that. to own a circus. I never wanted to be the greatest juggler, trapeze artist. I just wanted to be the big boss.”
“I've gone to places where nobody else goes. So after the first fortnight, we went to the Isle of Portland, which is next to Weymouth. Sounds stupid. But I mean, people don't cross over to go to the circus from Portland to Weymouth.”
“The sad thing is with no animals the circus doesn't smell like a circus, does it? Well we've still got popcorn and candy for us. No, it is a job to sell a circus with no animals, but It's made us do an awful lot of things. The whole show is totally different.”