Reginald Ernest Bolton (13 November 1945 – 14 July 2006) was a clown, teacher, actor and writer. Bolton's 1987 book ''New Circus'' has been called "seminal," and influenced a generation of performers. He used the circus for education and community development, working with the children on the streets of the Craigmillar estate in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Life

Reg was born in

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

, England. He was educated at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

, where he studied English and European literature. In 2004 he completed a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

''Why Circus Works: how the values and structures of circus make it a significant developmental experience for young people''
at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He married Annie Stainer, a dancer, mime and clown, with whom he had two children, Jo and Sophie.

Work

Reg worked tirelessly with children and communities both in the United Kingdom, and in Australia where he settled with his family in 1985. He owned and ran th
Circus Shop
selling a range of circus equipment such as juggling gear and unicycles. He was a pioneer in the area of educational community circuses. He wrote and produced many works, including: *1983 ''Circus in a suitcase''. A practical manual. New York *1987 ''New circus''. A world survey. London. Occasional journal ''Suitcase Circus News''. *1988 Videos ''Circus skills'' and ''School circus'' *1992 Video ''Safe circus'' *1995-98 Regular columnist for ''Laugh-Makers'' (USA) and ''Pro-Circus'' (Australia) *1996-04 Occasional contributor to ''Spectacle'' *1998 ''Showtime''. Best-selling children's book, (Premier's Book Award, 2000) *1999 Paper on ''Circus as Education'' in ''Australasian Drama Studies'' *2001 Keynote Speaker, Festival of American Youth Circus Organisation, Sarasota, Florida. Theme: ''Circus to save the world''. *2002 ''Intensity in tent city''. Leeds University, England *2003 Keynote Speaker, International Clowns Symposium, Weston super Mare, England. ''Clown abuse''. *2003 Article: 'The Philosopher on the Flying Trapeze'. ''Discourse'', San Francisco. *2003 ''The wisdom of clowns'' *2004 PhD paper:
Why Circus Works
how the values and structure of circus make it a significant developmental experience for young people''

Death

Reg died unexpectedly while working in Kununurra,

at the Agricultural Show, "doing what he did best, putting on a great show". His funeral was held at St George's Cathedral in Perth, Western Australia on 29 July 2006, with a celebration of his life held at the Camelot Theatre,

Mosman Park Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

on 30 July 2006.

Notes and references

External links

The Life and Work of Reg Bolton
'' A tribute website dedicated to social circus pioneer Dr. Reg Bolton (1945–2006) . It includes a photo library, notice board & other archives.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Reg 1945 births 2006 deaths British clowns Schoolteachers from Kent People from Margate Alumni of the University of Warwick