There are several orders of prestige for Circus’s and their shows. Some are elaborate high-end productions which attract many people including Royalty. Bertram Mills was of this order, he was known as King of the Circus (Radio Times 1938). His lavish shows were often presented at Olympia in London. Dame Laura Knight painted scenes of the circus life of Bertrum Mills Circus in the 1930’s. She had access back stage as she travelled with the circus for a year, sketch book in hand.
One of the stars of Bertram Mills Circus in the 1930s was Koringa. She was often the focal point of publicity and appeared in Fenwick’s to support sales and tickets to the Circus which were sold through the shop in Newcastle. Fenwick and Koringa corresponded frequently. In a post war cutting Bertrum Mills Circus & Menagerie announce “Circus Days are here Again!” after 6 years where it was not possible to have 3 huge trains, 90 road vehicles, the biggest tent in Europe or the Largest Building in London at the service of circus, “the country could not spare the food, petrol, man power nor material to supply Britain’s Biggest Circus and we were not interested in offering to the public an inferior show.” They were back with many of their original personnel. Last season was in 1966/67.
