The Circus
"Your never to old or young to visit the circus"
A Circus was a major feature at Chessington Zoo for many decades, with the first Circus at Chessington believed to have opened in 1933…
For many years the circus was run by Gilberts Circus and contained performers, clowns and animals such as elephants, camels, horses, ponies, dogs and monkeys in dresses and frilly outfits. From the early eighties it changed to an all human circus show after being persuaded by the Zoo Federation to drop the long standing use of animals in the circus, the human circus was performed in a big top for the summer seasons billed as Circus Hassani. The shows were a permanent feature from March to November. Circus Hassani was initially launched in 1979 by Ali and Tamara Hassani and was Britain's first circus without animals. Unfortunately, as much as animal-rights activists praised it, it was a flop with the public until it found a permanent home at the Chessington Zoo in 1982, where it succeeded the old Gilberts Circus and continued to present all-human circus shows.
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In 1983 the show’s title at Chessington was changed to Tamara Coco’s Circus however a few years later Chessington’s management decided to stage its own modernistic circus presentations. (Ali and Tamara Hassani/Coco were retained however to supply the big top, seating and other circus facilities) In 1987 the Circus suffered a setback when the uninsured Big Top was destroyed by a extraordinarily violent storm, quite unusual in England. This didn’t discourage Ali Hassani, who quickly rebuilt his circus at his own expense.
A Circus remained at Chessington until 1991 when the area which was then called Circus World was sadly closed and later removed to make way for a new themed land… Below are some examples of the numerous circus guides, that were produced and a link to some original video footage of the Circus at Chessington Zoo: |
A review of the Circus by Sir Gerrard Tyrwhitt-Drake from The English Circus & Fair Ground Book.
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Right: A couple of clowns amuse the children at the circus at Chessington Zoo. One of them is Lulu, the only female clown in the world - August 1942
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Below - A cutting from US Entertainment weekly; The Billboard dated February 1947. The article reports the death of European circus men Carl Petoletti and Reginald Goddard...
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Original chessington circus footage
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Girl Riders - 1951
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Circus Blessing - 1954
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Roller Skating - 1954
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Circus Blessing - 1955
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