William Kite ( – after 1845) was a 19th-century

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

performer The performing arts are The arts, arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art object ...

, best known as being the "Mr. Kite" from

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

song "

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles for their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written and composed primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. ...

Biography

Kite came from a circus family. He was born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, about 1825. His father, James Kite, was a circus proprietor, and the first to visit Knott Mill Fair,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, in 1806. James Kite formed his own company around 1810, travelling as "Kite's Pavilion Circus." William Kite was a performer at Wells's Circus from 1842 to 1843 and in

Pablo Fanque Pablo Fanque (born William Darby; 30 March 1810 – 4 May 1871) was a British equestrian performer and circus proprietor, becoming the first recorded Black circus owner in Britain. His circus was popular in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a p ...

's circus in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

from 1843 to 1845. A "Miss Kite", possibly a sister, also performed in Fanque's circus, in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, in 1845. His daughter, Elizabeth Ann Kite, later performed in the circus as an "Equestrienne". She married Eugene Gaertner, a member of another circus family.

"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" song

A broadside poster advertising Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal show in Rochdale, dated 14 February 1843, inspired, and provided many of the lyrics for,

' song, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!". The poster also notes that Mr. Kite was then "late of Wells's Circus." Kite was a riding master for Pablo Fanque at this time and, as documented by the poster, a

tightrope Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

walker as well. Kite was also an all-around performer with

John Sanger John Sanger (1816 – 22 August 1889) was an English circus proprietor. Biography He was born at Chew Magna, Somerset, in 1816, the son of an old sailor who had turned showman. In 1845 he started with his brother George Sanger a conjuring ex ...

's Circus.

In other media

A fictionalised version of Mr. Kite is portrayed as a ringmaster in a musical sequence from the 2007 film based on the music of the Beatles, ''

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our W ...

''. He is played by actor and comedian

Eddie Izzard Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's stand- ...

.Across the Universe
at IMDB In the 1978 film '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', a character named Mr. Kite is portrayed by

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

as the mayor of a small town, but has no otherwise relationship to the real figure beyond the Beatles connection.

References

People from Lambeth Circus owners Year of birth uncertain Year of death missing {{England-bio-stub