Gerry Cottle

Gerry Cottle, born 7 April 1945 in Carshalton, Surrey, England,[1] is a circus owner and the current owner of the Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset.

His father was a stockbroker and grand-master in the Masons. Gerry Cottle was educated at Rutlish School, Merton Park, south London and left home in 1961 at age 16 to join the Robert Brothers Circus.[2]

Circus career

Cottle started by doing menial tasks, but worked his way up to have his own juggling act, billed as Gerry Melville the Teenage Juggler,[3] and then to own his own show,[4] which opened in July 1970, with just five performers.[5] He established his Big Top in 1974 and ran it until 2003.[3] By the mid-1970s the Gerry Cottle Circus was touring Britain with three shows.[6] In 1975 he purchased a farm in Surrey to use as a winter headquarters, and lived there for 30 years.[3] He has also presented the Moscow State Circus and Chinese State Circus in Britain.[5] In 1995 his Circus of Horrors debuted at the Glastonbury Festival and has toured the world since then.[7] This was a collaborative venture with Archaos, a French contemporary circus.[8]

In 2003 he auctioned off much of his circus paraphernalia in order to concentrate on running Wookey Hole caves, a tourist attraction in Somerset.[4] In 2012 he celebrated fifty years in the business with a new show, Turbo Circus:50 Acts In 100 Minutes,[3] on a 31-week tour.[9]

Animal acts

Gerry Cottle’s Circus originally toured with a variety of animals including horses, zebras, elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys, and llamas.[10][11] The 1980s saw an increase in public opinion against animal acts. Cottle sold his last elephant and in 1993 had a non-animal circus.[3] In 2012 he said that he now reluctantly supports the ban on circus animal acts, which he says will improve the image of circuses in Britain.[10]

Wookey Hole

After purchasing Wookey Hole Caves, a tourist attraction that featured show caves, penny arcades and restaurants, he added a theatre, circus museum, hotel and circus school. At the latter, local youth train in a wide range of circus skills, and perform at the theatre and in Cottle's new touring show, Turbo Circus.[12]

Personal life

He married Betty Fossett, youngest daughter of circus showman Jim Fossett, in 1968,[3] and has three daughters and a son. In the 1980s he became addicted to cocaine and was jailed.[2] His daughters set up Cottle Sisters Circus.[13] He is now separated from Betty, and has another partner, Anna Carter of Carter's Steam Fair.[14][15]

Further information

References

  1. ↑ "Birthdays", The Guardian, p. 31, 7 April 2014
  2. 1 2 Stroud, Clover (17 Sep 2006). "Big top, bigger life". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Enoch, Nick (20 June 2012). "Gerry Cottle's Circus is brought back for the last time as legendary showman celebrates 50 years in entertainment". Daily Mail. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Cottle leaves big top behind". BBC News website. 4 October 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Gerry Cottle, Circus Showman". spitalfieldslife.com. September 27, 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "A high-wire act". The Times. August 22, 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "Circus of Horrors — The Day of the Dead". The Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Childs, Peter (May 13, 2013). Encyclopaedia of Contemporary British Culture. Routledge. ISBN 9781134755547.
  9. ↑ McGill, Stewart. "UK'S FOREMOST CIRCUS SHOWMAN RETURNS WITH BIG NEW TOURING SHOW". An online journal of the circus arts. The International Spectacle. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Circus master Gerry Cottle now supports a ban". Animal Defenders International. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Hobart, Angela (2006). Aesthetics in Performance: Formations of Symbolic Construction and Experience. Berghahn Books. p. 220. ISBN 9781845453152.
  12. ↑ "Turbo-charged entertainment for lovers of circus". Western Daily Press. December 20, 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "5 days in the life of ... Gerry Cottle". The Independent. 5 April 1998. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  14. ↑ Tyzack, Anna (2 Apr 2012). "My perfect weekend: Gerry Cottle, circus owner". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  15. ↑ Salter, Jessica (24 Aug 2012). "World of Gerry Cottle, circus owner". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 February 2014.

External links

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