James Frowde's memoirs - taken from the book 'The Victorian Clown' by Jacky Bratton and Ann Featherstone and adapted for radio and performed by Tony Lidington - represent the closest we have to a first-hand, vernacular description of the daily life of a British circus clown in the mid-nineteenth century.

At that time, circus people and pantomime artists were on the lowest rung of the cultural ladder, just a step above vagrants and beggars; indeed they were viewed with suspicion and fear by those who aspired or achieved more stable, residential lives.

Frowde recalls working with a particularly wilful monkey; and injuring himself during a difficult horseback trick.

Adapted and read by Tony Lidington.

Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. Show less