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William Alfred Merchant
William Alfred Merchant (31 July 1919 – 26 May 2001), was an English dwarf clown who performed under the name of "Little Billy" Merchant. Born in a workhouse in Barton Hill, Bristol, Merchant was abandoned by his parents as a young child and brought up in an orphanage in Bristol. As an adult, he was only tall. Merchant was fascinated by his local variety theatre, the Bristol Empire, where a chance encounter in 1937 resulted in his recruitment into John Lester's troupe of midgets. He subsequently joined Joe Boganny's band of acrobatic dwarves, with whom he appeared in many of the leading variety venues of the time. During the Second World War Merchant worked as an aircraft fitter for the Bristol Aeroplane Company, but he managed to spend the 1944 summer season at Chessington Zoo Circus, partnering the clown Fiery Jack (real name Fred Zetina). His partnership with Jacko the Clown lasted for 30 years, during which time the pair traveled extensively on the European circus circ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' is from 1631, in an account by the mayor of Abingdon reporting that "we have erected wthn our borough a workhouse to set poorer people to work". The origins of the workhouse can be traced to the Statute of Cambridge 1388, which attempted to address the labour shortages following the Black Death in England by restricting the movement of labourers, and ultimately led to the state becoming responsible for the support of the poor. However, mass unemployment following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the introduction of new technology to replace agricultural workers in particular, and a series of bad harvests, meant that by the early 1830s the established system of poor relief was proving to be unsustainable. The New Poor Law of 1834 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barton Hill, Bristol
Barton Hill is an area of Bristol, just to the east of the city centre and Bristol Temple Meads railway station. It includes residential, retail and industrial premises and is crossed by major roads, railway tracks and the Bristol Feeder Canal, feeder canal leading to Bristol Harbour. Geology The solid geology of Barton Hill is Triassic Redcliffe Sandstone. History Barton was a Manor house, manor just outside Bristol mentioned in the Domesday Book as ''Bertune apud Bristov'', and later in 1220 as ''Berton Bristoll''. In Saxon and early Normans, Norman times the manor was held by the king, and was known as Barton Regis. The manor gave its name to Barton Regis Hundred, the Hundred (county subdivision), hundred. Sloping ground at the southern end of the hundred, leading down to St Philip's Marsh, became known as Barton Hill. The Great Western Cotton Factory on Great Western Lane was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the early 19th century. Great Western Cotton factory ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Boganny
Joe Boganny (born Joseph Clifton; 7 February 1874 – 29 July 1943), also known as Joseph Toledano or Joseph Lazarus, was a British comedy performer and acrobat who led The Boganny Troupe, popular in early 20th century music hall and variety shows for their knockabout comedy and Risley act. Life and career He was born in Liverpool, the son of renowned clown and gymnast Frank Clifton (also known as Frank Riley; 1842–1904), who generally used the stage name Raslus, and Sarah Toledano ( Daniels; 1839–1902). He started working as a young child in his family's circus act, and then joined with his brother Joshua and half-brother Abraham "Alf" Alvarez as an acrobatic troupe, the Three Cliftons (also known as the Clifton Brothers, and under a variety of other names), often performing in formal evening dress. The troupe toured internationally before splitting up in 1900, and Joe Clifton took on the name Boganny. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable aircraft produced by the company include the 'Boxkite', the Bristol Fighter, the Bulldog, the Blenheim, the Beaufighter, and the Britannia, and much of the preliminary work which led to Concorde was carried out by the company. In 1956 its major operations were split into Bristol Aircraft and Bristol Aero Engines. In 1959, Bristol Aircraft merged with several major British aircraft companies to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Bristol Aero Engines merged with Armstrong Siddeley to form Bristol Siddeley. BAC went on to become a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace, now BAE Systems. Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1966, who continued to develop and market Bristol-designed engines. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert George John Francis Fossett
Robert George John Francis Fossett (11 November 1922 – 1 June 2004), also known as Jacko Fossett, was an English clown who performed under the name of Jacko the Clown. With his partner of 30 years, Little Billy Merchant, he travelled extensively on the European circus circuit. The pair were regular performers at the Belle Vue Christmas Circus until Merchant's retirement in 1979. Sydney the boxing kangaroo was another of Jacko's regular partners, although there were in fact eight different animals over the years. Jacko was presented with the World's Fair's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. Described by circus historian J. M. Turner as "probably the last of the traditional British clowns", Jacko died suddenly on 1 June 2004, at the age of 81. Fossett appeared briefly as a clown in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus ''The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus'' was a concert show organised by the Rolling Stones on 11–12 December 1968. The show was filmed on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens
Belle Vue Zoological Gardens was a large zoo, amusement park, exhibition hall complex and speedway stadium in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, opened in 1836. The brainchild of John Jennison, the gardens were initially intended to be an entertainment for the genteel middle classes, with formal gardens and dancing on open-air platforms during the summer, but they soon became one of the most popular attractions in Northern England. Before moving to Belle Vue, Jennison, a part-time gardener, had run a small aviary at his home, the beginnings of the zoo that over the years grew to become the third-largest in the United Kingdom. Jennison set out a small amusements area in Belle Vue during the 1870s, which was expanded in the early 20th century to become what was advertised as the "showground of the world". Popular rides included the Bobs roller coaster and the Scenic Railway. Other entertainments included grand firework displays from 1852 and an annual Christmas circus from 1922. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skegness
Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, it is the largest settlement in East Lindsey. It also incorporates Winthorpe and Seacroft, and forms a larger built-up area with the resorts of Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards to the north. The town is on the A52 and A158 roads, connecting it with Boston and the East Midlands, and Lincoln respectively. Skegness railway station is on the Nottingham to Skegness (via Grantham) line. The original Skegness was situated farther east at the mouth of The Wash. Its Norse name refers to a headland which sat near the settlement. By the 14th century, it was a locally important port for coastal trade. The natural sea defences which protected the harbour eroded in the later Middle Ages, and it was lost to the sea after a storm in the 1520s. Rebui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 2019. The newspaper is owned by Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror), /sup> one of Britain's largest newspaper publishing groups. Since adopting a 'digital-first' strategy in 2014, the ''MEN'' has experienced significant online growth, despite its average print daily circulation for the first half of 2021 falling to 22,107. In the 2018 British Regional Press Awards, it was named Newspaper of the Year and Website of the Year. History Formation and ''The Guardian'' ownership The ''Manchester Evening News'' was first published on 10 October 1868 by Mitchell Henry as part of his parliamentary election campaign, its first issue four pages long and costing a halfpenny. The newspaper was run from a small office on Brown Street, with approximately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Clowns
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname) English is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alex English (born 1954), American basketball player * Arthur English (1919–1995), English actor and comedian *Bill English (born 1961), New Zealand politician and Prime Mini ..., a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Entertainers With Dwarfism
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience's attention. Although people's attention is held by different things because individuals have different preferences, most forms of entertainment are recognisable and familiar. Storytelling, music, drama, dance, and different kinds of performance exist in all cultures and were supported in royal courts and developed into sophisticated forms, over time becoming available to all citizens. The process has been accelerated in modern times by an entertainment industry that records and sells entertainment products. Entertainment evolves and can be adapted to suit any scale, ranging from an individual who chooses a private entertainment from a now enormous array of pre-recorded pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1919 Births
Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the coast of the Hebrides; 201 people, mostly servicemen returning home to Lewis and Harris, are killed. * January 2– 22 – Russian Civil War: The Red Army's Caspian-Caucasian Front begins the Northern Caucasus Operation against the White Army, but fails to make progress. * January 3 – The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal (representing the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz) and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East. * January 5 – In Germany: ** Spartacist uprising in Berlin: The Marxist Spartacus League, with the newly formed Communist Party of Germany and the Independent Social De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
