The Circus

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28530, 8 March 1958, Page 3

The Circus

Chipperfield’s Circus. By Pamela Macgregor-Morris. Faber and Faber. 209 pp. The romance which encompasses a circus is well illustrated in this fully authenticated biography of one of the most famous ones m the world. Miss Macgregor-Morris accompanied Chipperfield’s Circus on one of its tours in the unofficial capacity of recorder, and her story of a kindly, courageous and dedicated community and its tenderly nurtured animals in what is virtually a world of its own makes interesting reading. For 300 years the Chipperfield family has been connected with circus life, and it is their proud boast that they were entertaining the public as far back as the reign of Charles 11. Though the clan has inevitably suffered vicissitudes, knowledge and experience of the many-sided requirements of the profession have compensated.

The author dwells at length on the all-important business of animal training and scouts the belief that it involves any form of cruelty; punishment does not get the trainer anywhere, and his whole attention is set upon winning the confidence of his charges by patience and a system of rewards. Indeed, the circus animal’s lot is a good deal happier than that of many family pets. The trainer does, however, have to be wary. As long as he remains on, his feet he has complete control of the situation, but should he accidentally slip and fall the instinct latent in all wild beasts to savage helpless victims is apt to result in injury or death. The Chipperfields are especially clever in mixing the personnel of their 1 animal acts, even to inducing those two sworn enemies, the tiger and the elephant to co-operate, witn the result that a tiger has become a placid passenger in a howdah I borne by an elephant round the | ring. With a menagerie containiing such an assortment as lions, i tigers, elephants, sea-lions, bears, i polar bears, and monkeys, not to mention dogs and horses, the circus is a never»failing source of delight to its patrons, while the equestrians, clowns, acrobats, etc., which comprise its human attractions are all - highly-skilled and dedicated artists. , This history of a circus, as recorded by a painstaking observer, is one of a magnificent organisaj tion whose object is to give wholesome pleasure to the people who comprise its audience every