YOUNGEST GIRL CLOWN

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29401, 31 December 1960, Page 2

YOUNGEST GIRL CLOWN

Valentina Rowland, Of Circus Family Valentina Rowland is not the only girl clown in the business, but at 16 she is one of the youngest, writes a London correspondent. And she comes from one of the most famous circus families of all. Her grandfather is Coco the Clown.

Valentina began training at 13, She strung up a wire in the back garden of her home in Blackpool, and, helped by her mother who was herself a clown before her marriage, Valentina began to learn tight-rope walking. “And it isn’t walking the wire which is most difficult,” Valentina said. “It’s learning to fall off without getting hurt.” Kept the Name Valentina decided to use the name her mother had used, Cocotina, little Coco. For her funny face, she chose a small nose and a straggly moustache, topped by a wig and a woollen cap. She appeared in public for the first time at London’s Olympia last Christmas.

She went on with her grandfather, her two uncles, and her cousin, all clowns. Then they faded into the background and left her all alone, with a spotlight, a wire, and an audience of 7000. The children loved her.

This month, for the first time in her life, Valentina is far from home, appearing with another circus in Germany. She misses her parents and her four younger brothers and sisters, but she accepts the separation like the real trouper she is.