The Family

With the death of Bobby Roberts Snr on Easter Monday, April 5th 1999 aged 87, following several years of declining health, the British circus scene reaches the end of an era. He was the 'elder statesman’ of the circus world here and had been, for some years, Honorary President of the Association of Circus Proprietors of Great Britain. At the end of June 1998, Bobby and his wife, Kitty, were awarded the Circus Friends' Association of Great Britain's first-ever CFA lifetime Award, for their contributions to British circus. They received another award in February, that of Lifetime of Circus Achievement from the showman's newspaper, ‘The World's Fair’, at its first-ever annual Circus Awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the annual Circus Reunion. The presentation was the most popular of the evening as well as the most moving and emotional, with the audience of 250 circus folk giving them a standing ovation and more than five minutes of cheering and applause.

Bobby was not only a circus proprietor but also an animal trainer The animals owned by him and his brother Tommy appeared in many leading British circuses, including Billy Smart's, Blackpool Tower, W H Wilkie's, Don Ross' , Prince-Coxe's, Lord George Sanger's , Tom Arnold's , Great Yarmouth Hippodrome and at Kelvin Hail, Glasgow as well as Belle Vue , Manchester.

In addition, they sent animal acts to many leading European shows, including Cirkus Belli Cirkus Louis, Cirkus Altenburg in Denmark and Sweden; Cirkus Berny and Cirkus Lowe in Norway., Circus de Jonghe, Cirque Semay and Circus Van Bever in Belgium; to Rancy in France; and Circuses Sarrasani and Krone in Germany.

Born at Kingsthorpe near Northampton in 1912, Bobby Roberts was the second son of Paul Otto, a continental clown and tumbler, who married Mary Fossett, a sister of Sir Robert Fossett, one of England's best known circus owners. Their first son, Paul, died in infancy and their third, Tommy, was born two years after Bobby. The two brothers were virtually inseparable for most of their lives and Tommy's death in March 1996 brought to a close one of the most successful and enduring family and business partnerships of the circus world.

Christened Robert Fossett, Bobby later changed his surname, along with his brother Tommy, to that of Roberts. Their father had travelled England with the famous Bostock Wombwell and Bailey's Circus and, when that show closed in 1896, his father in law set up Sir Robert Fossett's Circus and Bobby and Tommy spent their early days at Tiffield, where the Fossetts had their winter farm. Paul and Mary Otto were with the Fossett show after the Great War and it was with the Fossett Circus that Bobby grew up. He made his circus debut as a very young clown and, at the age of eleven, was a featured solo rider in Sir Robert Fossett's Circus. The brothers subsequently became part of the Fossett family riding troupe, with Bobby, Bailey and Mary Fossett as well as appearing in an aerial rings act and on the horizontal bars.

For a while, in about 1932, Bobby's parents ran their own small tenting show, Otto's Victory circus, which comprised mother, father, two sons and one other performer "My brother and I did six or seven acts in that show," Bobby once recalled. These included the aerial rings, a double trapeze act, hand balancing, two riding acts and clowning. They worked a spell at Rosaire's Circus before the brothers joined Chapman's Circus, working with the stage tours and the tenting outfit. They partnered a year before joining Ada Mary Chapman. They then went to Chapman's No. 1 Circus, commencing at the Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool. With Chapman, the brothers appeared in a circus at Gamage's Store in London in 1936, and at Bentall's in Kingston-Upon-Thames in 1937. At the outbreak of war in 1939, they were at Chapman's Cheshunt Farm looking after the animals and followed this with a variety theatre tour as well as an appearance in Stanley V Parkin’s Circus at the Empress Hall, London in the winter of 1939/40. Chapman's Circus always used a colour scheme of red and yellow for its wagons and adopted the title of "Hip-Hip-Zoo-Ray " for its stage tours so, when the Roberts brothers eventually began their own circus, they adopted the same colours and title. They also took on the Chapman policy of presenting a wide and plentiful supply of animals for its audiences.

In June 1941, Bobby Roberts married Kitty Mednick, who was part of the musical act known as Norman Sisters and Michael, which also comprised her brother and his wife. Their children, Bobby Jnr., Maureen and Tommy were born in December 1942, December 1951 and January 1961 respectively and have all subsequently married and given Bobby and Kitty grandchildren who have, in turn, gone into the circus profession.

Bobby had already worked with Jimmy Scott, a noted young circus artiste of the time, in a horizontal bar acrobatic act on the variety circuit that was billed as the Otto Brothers. Together with Tommy and their respective wives, they formed a bareback riding troupe and appeared as the Ottawas Troupe at the prestigious Blackpool Tower Circus in 1942,. where the brothers Roberts also performing the bar act.

Later that year, the brothers went into the National Fire Brigade Service, being stationed in Edinburgh, and their wives, to be close to them, were booked into the Edinburgh Palladium doing song and dance work as the Roberts Sisters. After 18 months, Bobby was discharged from service and worked for Harry Coady’s Circus for a while, joining with his brother after that.

Just before the end of the war, in 1944, they decided to open their own tenting show, with the help of the experienced advance manager Billy Mack, at whose suggestion they took the plunge. They opened as Otto Brothers Madras Express and Tropical Circus (a mouthful if ever there was one!) at Falkirk and Scotland has always been a lucky part of the country for this particular family. The title was adapted to Major Russell's Madras State Circus before being changed at the end of 1944 to Robert Brothers' Mammoth Zoo-Circus. Although they began at a time when there were many shortages with food and petrol and clothing rationing, it was also a time when entertainment was sorely needed, so the show prospered with a hardworking family unit of the two brothers and their wives.

In the winter months, their acts would travel with Don Ross' Stage Circus, or with their own Hip-Hip-Zoo-Ray circus, continuing until the death of the variety theatre circuit in Britain. Both Bobby and Tommy Roberts were skilled animal trainers, Bobby specialising in elephants, horses and ponies as well as dogs. His first elephant was Maharanee. a 23-year old acquired from Dudley Zoo in early 1946. With wartime restrictions, she had been unable to travel by rail so a cattle float was used to transport her but on the journey to Campbeltown, she turned round in it bursting the sides and her handler had to walk the elephant the rest of the way. The delay caused the show to miss two performances but they eventually found the elephant and her groom sitting on the roadside. He had sent the Roberts brothers a telegram stating I'm here - where are you?".

By 1947, the show boasted in its menagerie lions, Indian and African monkeys, llamas, bears, Shetland ponies, Arabian horses, a laughing hyena, zebras and even a giant rat in much the same way as his father had done before him, Bobby Roberts Jnr made his ring debut as a clown a age of six in 1949.

In 1950, Bobby Roberts went to the rescue of one of his wild animal trainers, Carl Fischer, when a lion jumped on his back. Many years later Fischer became a big star on the continent with Circus Sarrasani, Circus Krone and Circus Busch – Roland, presenting a group of Roberts Lions and tigers, but when back in England with the Roberts show he fell in the cage while practising his animals. Being, by then, of huge girth it took Bobby, brother Tommy and four helpers to raise the trainer from the ground before the beasts attacked

The Roberts' circus hit the national headlines in February 1955, when tragedy hit at the show's winter quarters, at Polebrook, near Oundle. A totally new young trainer, 26-year old Rene Ruellot from France, went into the big cage with a group of lions he had not become accustomed to and was promptly mauled to death. Twenty years later, there was another sad tragedy when a lion killed a 10-year-old boy after having escaped from its cage when frightened by fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night.

Over the years Bobby and his brother acquired more and more animals and their acts were seen at prestigious British shows like Blackpool Tower Harringay Arena and Brighton Centre as well as most of the leading European circuses. At one time they had 17 elephants in their stables and Bobby was proud to see his elder son, Bobby Jnr take over as elephant trainer, appearing on several occasions before members of the Royal family, including the Queen and Princess Margaret and at the Royal Tournament at Earls Court, London in 1980.

In 1966, their circus animals were engaged for the filming of Dr DooLittle by W C~ Fox at Castle Coombe, but bad weather caused the filming to be abandoned here and eventually that part of the film was made in California

For several years, in the 1970s, Bobby and his brother ran the Thorney Wild Life Park as well as their tenting circus and, in 1966/ 67, were the first circus proprietors to put a circus into the Roundhouse in Camden, London, which was more notable for Rock concerts than lions and tigers. That season was marred by French artiste, Francine Coffins' fall from the highwire early in the season on December 30, 1966.

In 1974, Bobby persuaded the famous Russian-born clown. Coco, for many years the star of Bertram Mills Circus, to come out of retirement and back to the sawdust ring. His re-emergence into the limelight was short lived however as he died in September that year.

Although the Robert's circus had already been featured on Yorkshire Television, it was not until 1978, when it took over the BBC television contract, held by Billy Smart's Circus for about 25 years, that Robert Brothers' Circus really hit 'the big time' and became a household name. At the same time, Bobby and his brother began staging the Circus World Championships an annual favourite television programme, in their gigantic big top. Bobby Roberts Snr, was also invited to he one of the judges at the annual International Circus Festival staged by Prince Rainier in Monaco

By 1980 the two Roberts' families had grown so steadily, that in 1982, they decided to divide the ample resources of Roberts Brothers' Circus, with each brother and his family going their separate ways with their own show. However, they continued to share the winter quarters in Polebrook and to come together for the BBC television recordings and Circus World Championships. The two brothers remained close friends, as only those who had lived and worked together for 70 years could do. Although the splitting of the show into two of equal size and importance proved a wrench for Bobby and Tommy, the move worked well, each family prospering in its own way.

Bobby Roberts Snr and his wife Kitty, along with sons Bobby Jnr and Tommy formed Roberts Brothers Super Circus, which travelled until 1992. Tommy Jnr then took his horse and pony acts on outside circus bookings while Bobby Jnr, still guided by his parents, formed his own show, Bobby Roberts' Super Circus, which was recently voted Britains Best Circus by the Circus Friends Association. Proud of his father and uncles achievements since 1944, he intends carrying on the family circus traditions into the sixth decade and already, the grand children and great-grand children of Bobby Roberts Snr are following in the footsteps of a man who was Britain's 'elder statesman' of the circus world.

 

Bobby born in 1942, was aged 4 when he first fell into the sawdust ring as a clown along with his Uncle, the famous Jacko Fossett. His early years were spent watching and learning from his father the basic circus skills then developing his own personality into the routines. After a period as a solo juggler he teamed up with the now celebrated Ringmaster Norman Barrett as the Barro Boys. Later as a ground acrobat he was a member of the Teenage Tumblers act.
He also learnt to walk the low wire, then graduated to the high wire, walking above the big cage with a group of lions roaming below. Following on from his skills as a horse rider and with a passion for the Wild West, he developed a cowboy act incorporating sharp - shooting, gun juggling, rope spinning and whip cracking. In 1980, for the showmanship, quality and skill in his act Bobby won the Western Category at the Circus World Championships.

His partner in the act was his wife Moira, who is now the overall Administrator of the circus, with a million and one problems to solve behind the scenes - which increase daily in an ever - growing paperwork mountain.

Bobby met Moira in the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow where her family operated a shooting and archery stall in the Carnival, which was always held beside the Circus. They married in 1965 and Moira was soon in the ring as "Princess Moira" demonstrating her prowess with the bow and arrow in the Western act.

Bobby took over presenting the elephants from his father in 1961 and trained many through the years and is now recognised as one of the world’s greatest elephant trainers.

In 1990 Bobby, along with his brother Tommy, were honoured by the Circus Friends Association who presented them with the Award for the Best Equestrian Act in Britain for their highly original presentation of Arabian and Palomino horses in the Superdome Circus, Blackpool. During recent years Bobby continues to receive awards and accolades including Best Animal Act for the Elephants and Horses in 1994, Best Circus for 1997 and 2000 with a further award of Best Animal Act for 2000. His numerous television appearances were recognised when he featured on the Radio Times front cover.

Apart from his celebrated skills as a circus performer he is a gifted craftsman - wearing the cap of mechanic, electrician, welder and saddler - and when not in the ring of tending his animals can usually be found in his workshop or eyeing up "the goodies" in the local scrapyard.

Bobby is a greatly valued member of that prominent show business organisation "The Grand Order of Water Rats" and in this capacity does a vast amount of charity work. He is one of the only two circus artists invited to join the organisation. Bobby also supports the Variety Club of Great Britain in his position as barker.

After the UK's foot and mouth crisis of 2001, Bobby was forced to leave his beloved elephants in their winter quarters which broke theirs and Bobby's hearts and it was decided to retire them for the 2002 season. Unfortunately before the start of the season Janey died a natural and peaceful death with Bobby by her side, thus leaving the whole of the family and many of her loyal fans heartbroken having been a part of the family for 45 years.
 

At 38 daughter Kitty has the effervescent and likeable personality of a true circus performer. A versatile artiste of the highest calibre she started her performing career on the high wire. Kitty then showed an aptitude for working with animals and developed a marvellous rapport with her group of dogs and followed her grandmother Kitty by training and presenting a poodle revue. Kitty is now showing her inherited aptitude for training and caring for the many horses with an ever increasing responsibility for their husbandry.

Kitty has appeared many times on television and news programmes such as the documentary "Kitty, Traveller by night". Kitty's other TV and film appearances include standing in as a stunt double for trapeze and high wire situations and the hugely successful Little Voice appearing alongside many of the countries leading actors including Michael Caine and Brenda Blethan.

Kitty is also the mother of Summer and Angel, Robert and more recently Nevis. She is married to Stephan Sallai who also supports the family as a circus performer.
 

It wasn't long before Istvan and Kitty became true soul mates and were soon married in 1995.

Since joining Bobby Roberts Istvan has continued to expand his knowledge of behind the scenes responsibilities and now able to relieve Bobby of many of the day to day pressures of organising one of the UK's most popular circuses.
 

Truly a young artist - steeped in the spangled tradition of her family background. Summer, the daughter of Kitty, made her first appearance in the ring on her 1st birthday The 10th Generation of the Roberts family already has a regular part to play during the show showing off her inherited ability to mesmerise the audience with her balancing skills. 

Like all circus children Summer has needed to learn the discipline required when working within such a dangerous environment, and already displays a healthy respect for the animals and her surroundings.

One of the major aspects of Summers childhood is the requirement to attend different schools wherever she is touring in order to follow the National Curriculum a situation I feel sure many of us would not envy, however she applies the same level of professionalism to her education as she does to her entertaining and is always a popular addition to the schools she visits.
But take a tip from me, don't ever forget that she's a Roberts!
 

Little Bobby is the son of Bobby Jnr. and Moira. Under the guidance of his father and grandfather in the difficult and underestimated art of clowning, he is, in a very short time, showing great promise.

An audience’s laughter is food to this young man who is dedicating his talent to mirth - making. Bobby already has a large collection of books on comedy and spends hours studying videotapes of the world’s great comics and clowns. He was also tutored by his uncle, Jack Fossett, the legendary clown ‘Jacko’ and appeared with him in countless entrees.

He is continually perfecting the numerous skills, including juggling, balancing, acrobatics, required of a true laughter maker in the ring.
He lives with his partner Gillian and they have a son called Logan who from time to time makes his own appearance in the ring during the interval.