William George Smart Sr. (25 April 1894 – 25 September 1966) was a British

showman Showman can have a variety of meanings, usually by context and depending on the country. Australia Travelling showmen are people who run amusement and side show equipment at regional shows, state capital shows, events and festivals througho ...

fairground Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbor ...

proprietor and

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proprietor, the founder and owner of Billy Smart's Circus.

Biography

Born in London, Billy Smart was one of 23 children in a family that worked on fairgrounds in London and

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. After marrying in 1925, he and his brothers set up their own fair, which became a regular attraction in the region. Billy Smart's Fun Fair featured alongside Bertram Mills' Circus at

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in 1939 and, during the

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, Smart ran several Holiday at Home Fairs, to boost morale. "Billy Smart: The Guv'nor", National Fairground and Circus Archive
Retrieved 14 February 2017 In 1946, he purchased the big top of Cody's Circus, and opened his own New World Circus. Its first show was in

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on 5 April 1946. At first, the circus ran in conjunction with the existing funfair, but the latter was phased out by 1952, and Smart's circus toured with a full

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of animals. In 1954, the existing big top was replaced by one with a capacity of 6,000 seats, a

hippodrome The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...

track around the ring, and a grand entrance hall allowing spectacular parades to take place. Smart pioneered centrally-heated dark blue rather than light coloured tents, which had compromised lighting effects. Smart arranged for the televising of his circus from 1947, as the first

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location live TV show. This led to regular

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shows on the BBC, including the 1977 Royal Jubilee Big Top Show, organised by his son David Smart, which was attended by Queen

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and the

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, and raised several million pounds for charity. In the 1960s, the Billy Smart's TV show was the first UK TV programme to attract more than 20 million viewers in the UK. Between 1979 and 1982, the circus was broadcast on

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. The circus grew to become one of the largest in the world. It was the world's largest travelling circus under canvas in the 1960s, according to ''King Pole'' magazine, with a permanent base at

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. Smart himself took part in his shows, and led many stunts to publicise the circus. Around 1961, Smart offered £1 million to buy

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, and also headed a consortium hoping to involve

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in what would have become the first Disney amusement park in Europe; however, the venture did not proceed. Gary S. Cross, John K. Walton, ''The Playful Crowd: Pleasure Places in the Twentieth Century'', Columbia University Press, 2005
/ref> Smart then decided upon a novel concept, a

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, and, after years of searching for a suitable site, bought a property near

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for this purpose. The

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was brought to fruition by his sons, Ronald, David and Stanley (known as Billy Jr), after his death, and grew to attract up to 2.5 million visitors per year. He was the subject of ''

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'' in 1956 when he was surprised by

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at the King's Theatre,

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, London. Billy Smart died in 1966, in his caravan shortly after conducting a band in front of his circus tent at

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. His friend Sir

Billy Butlin Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin (29 September 189912 June 1980) was a South African-born British entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.''#refRiverside, American Heritage Dictionary 2004'', p. 135.#refSc ...

described him as "the greatest showman of our time and probably the last of the great showmen."

Family

Billy Smart Jr. Billy Smart Jr. (born Stanley Smart, 15 October 1934 – 23 May 2005) was a British circus performer and impresario. Biography Smart, whose real name was Stanley, was the tenth child and third son of Billy Smart Sr. His father was a showman a ...

, son, circus performer and circus director * David Smart, son, circus performer and circus director

References

*David Jamieson, ''Billy Smart's Circus, A Pictorial History''. Buntingford, Aardvark Publishing, 2004. () *"Spinners of the Big Top" by Pamela Macgregor-Morris

External links

Kate Dodd, "50 years since final curtain came down on legendary showman Billy Smart’s life", ''Ipswich Star'', 27 September 2016 Billy Smart's Circus in Glasgow, 1954
''British Pathé'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Billy Sr. 1894 births 1966 deaths Circus owners 20th-century British businesspeople