Lord of the ring

VETERAN ringmaster Norman Barrett didn't follow the cliched route of running away to join the circus so he could perform in the big top. He had no need. He was "born into the circus" after his father gave up his North Yorkshire farm to train and present animals in the ring.

Celebrating an amazing six decades in the circus, 70-year-old Barrett is playing on home ground as Zippo's Circus puts up its tent in Hartlepool for the first time in June.

"My dad was a farmer who lived in Yorkshire and his great hobby was going to the theatre. He trained all the animals of the farm - horses, dog, sheep - to do tricks as a hobby," he recalls.

"One day the circus visited and invited him to show them what he could do with his animals. After seeing them, they said why don't you join the circus?'."

A few months later his father sold his farm at Great Ouseburn and went on the road with the circus. "I was born into the circus and first went into the ring in 1948," says Barrett, who was a boarder at Ripon Grammar School.

"The most important thing is that I still enjoy doing it and get a great kick out of doing it - and long may it be so. My dear wife makes sure I look immaculate every day."

He puts on the red coat and top hat to become the ringmaster, one of many circus roles he's played in the past 60 years. Bareback rider, juggler, clown.

He did them all before joining the famous Bertram Mills Circus as ringmaster and then moving on to the legendary Blackpool Tower Circus.

He didn't give doing anything other than joining the circus a second thought. "I just did it automatically, I never thought about anything else," he says, pointing out that many generations of families follow the circus tradition.

"It's a way of life. We make a living out of it, but it's a way of life. And it's a very hard life."

But he wouldn't swap it for anything. "I've gone through my life enjoying every moment of it. I'm enjoying my life up to now and there's still a lot to come."

He's never abandoned the animal acts that were his father's entry into the circus. He used to present horses with him in the ring. Norman rode them too, performing in a scene reminiscent of Ben-Hur as he stood on two horses, a leg on each animal, and galloped round the ring.

"My father had great patience and loved what he did and that rubbed off on me," he says.

The revived interest in circuses, after a period when they came in for criticism and went out of fashion, obviously pleases him. The circus has gained recognition in the past few years, he says with the Arts Council recognising it as an art form.

He's vocal, too, on using animals in the circus, referring to a report by scientists for the RSPCA that found no scientific reason why animals shouldn't perform, provided they are correctly looked after. He sees it as more of a moral issue of whether you like to see animals perform.

Barrett himself does an act with budgies, which featured as part of his appearance in last Christmas's pantomime at Billingham Forum. He still works with ponies and horses.

"The audience sit a maximum of 30-odd feet away from the ring and can see if the animals aren't in good condition. What I'm saying now is not being flippant but you can't say to any animal look happy, you're performing'.

"We now get Cruft's dog show with these dancing dogs, which are what we've had in the circus for generations. Now it's the in-thing.

"Many years ago I was going to go into pantomime and the producer said he couldn't take me because I used trained animals. I said you've got Cinderella's ponies'. He said the difference was mine were trained."

He was a clown before he became a ringmaster.

Not a very good clown, he admits. But his potential for putting on the red coat and being a great ringmaster was spotted and flourished, not least during his 30 years at Blackpool Tower Circus.

He used to have a dove act before his current presentation with budgies. "It's the same basic system we go through whether it's dogs, horses, goats or whatever," he says.

His own son, Guy, works with illusions and makes props in a different branch of the circus. He couldn't follow his father into the ring because of an allergy to horses.

Norman has 16 budgies, housed in an aviary that travels in the back of his Mercedes van, working with eight or nine of them at a time on stage. The rest are reserves. "The act is like a football team, it's only as good as its reserves," he says.

"A lot of people have budgies and can identify with them and the fact you are training them to go down slides, on seesaws and pull little cars along."

He's seen a revival of interest in variety acts, thanks in part to TV shows like Britain's Got Talent, providing a showcase for variety turns once more. "Now the wheel has turned and it's going back to where a lot of teenagers see us. You're never too old, never too cool to go to the circus," he adds.

During the winter, when the circus is off the road, he takes his act abroad. In Germany, in particular, there's a big demand for his sort of entertainment.

"It has a lot of variety theatres, excellent 400 to 500 seaters where they put on eight speciality acts with a compere," Barrett explains.

PEOPLE say why don't we do it in England?

Because people wouldn't come - there's no star name top of the bill. It's a different outlook over there, they go for a night out.

"But the more variety shows on television the better because it makes people appreciate them."

Panto producer Duggie Chapman put no less than four speciality acts in last year's Billingham show, giving them each a solo spot. "People enjoy it - from children to 90-year-olds," says Barrett.

The circus way of life has changed a lot since he began. He can remember when everything was moved by horsepower - with real horses. There would be 90 horses on a show to pull, carry and go into the ring.

The big top has changed. They have better tents with theatre-style seating and better lighting. But the magic of circus remains the same for Norman.

"At the end of the day we're a traditional circus and it's acrobats, jugglers, clowns, and horses that people want to see," he says.

This is the first visit of Zippo's Circus to Hartlepool but not Barrett's. "The last time I was in Hartlepool was at the old Empire Theatre in 19- hundred-and-frozen-to-death," he jokes.

* Zippo's Circus comes to Hartlepool - the circus site off Maritime Avenue, near Mecca bingo - from June 6-10. Tickets are available from the on-site box office from 9am to 8.30pm, or dial-a-seat on 0871-2102100. Discounted internet booking and further information at www.zipposcircus.co.uk