A lion riding a horse and four-way blindfolded boxing.

January 17, 2016 3:49 PM

The Golden Age of Circus: Show of Shows. Apologies to those outside the UK, as I’m not sure this will be available to them, but the BBC’s Storyville strand just broadcast a 75 minute collage of terrific vintage circus footage, accompanied by a Sigur Ross soundtrack. It’s up on the BBC iPlayer for the next month, where you’ll see a host of bizarre animal acts and some insanely dangerous stuff from the human performers. I particularly enjoyed the mule balancing on a pile of bowling pins, the lion riding a horse, the polar bears belly flopping down a slide, the toddler acting as her mother’s knife-throwing assistant and the four-way blindfolded boxing. The escapologists, human cannonballs and furniture-laden tightrope walkers are pretty good too.
posted by Paul Slade (1 comment total)

That sounds like a lot of animal abuse I would be sad to watch, though I'm sure the human acts are fascinating.
posted by Glinn at 4:11 PM on January 17, 2016