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KF5JRV > TODAY    09.01.90 12:30l 36 Lines 2466 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 18494_KF5JRV
Subj: Today in History - Jan 09
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<N3HYM<W9GM<N2NOV<K5DAT<KF5JRV
Sent: 260109/1110Z 18494@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.24


On or about January 9, 1768, Englishman Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London.

Trick riders, acrobats, clowns, trained animals and other familiar components of the circus have existed throughout recorded hi
story, but it was not until the late 18th century that the modern spectacle of the circus was born. Astley, a former cavalry se
rgeant major, found that if he galloped in a tight circle, centrifugal force allowed him to perform seemingly impossible feats 
on a horseâ€Ös back. He drew up a ring and invited the public to see him wave his sword in the air while he rode with one foot 
on the saddle and one on the horseâ€Ös head.

Astleyâ€Ös trick riding received such a favorable response that he soon hired other equestrians, a clown, and musicians and in 
1770 built a roof over his ring and called the structure Astleyâ€Ös Amphitheatre. In 1772, Astley went to Versailles to perform
 his “daring feats of horsemanship� before King Louis XV, and he found France ripe for a permanent show of its own, which h
e founded in 1782. Also in 1782, a competitor in London set up shop just down the road from Astleyâ€Ös Amphitheatre, calling hi
s show the “Royal Circus,� after the Roman name for the circular theaters where chariot races were held. In the 19th centur
y, the term “circus� was adopted as a generic name for this new form of entertainment. Astley, who lived until 1814, eventu
ally established 18 other circuses in cities across Europe.

In 1792, English equestrian John Bill Ricketts opened the first American circus in Philadelphia and later opened others in New 
York City and Boston. President George Washington reportedly attended a Ricketts circus and sold the company a horse. Smaller t
raveling circuses arose in Europe in the early 19th century, visiting towns and cities that lacked elaborate permanent shows. L
arger traveling tent shows evolved in the 1820s. In 1859, the Cirque Napoleon in Paris offered the first “flying trapeze� a
ct, which remains a popular component of the modern circus.

In 1871, William Cameron Coup and showman P.T. Barnum opened an enormous circus in Brooklyn that they dubbed “The Greatest Sh
ow on Earth.� Ten years later, Barnum went into business with James Anthony Bailey; the “Barnum and Bailey� circuses were
 so large they required simultaneous performances in three rings.



73 de Scott KF5JRV

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