Cyril Mills - Revision history

Djando: /* Life After The Bertram Mills Circus */

2026-02-14T21:43:37Z

‎Life After The Bertram Mills Circus

Djando: /* The Final Years */

2026-02-14T21:43:26Z

‎The Final Years

Djando: /* Cyril and Bernard Mills Ltd. */

2026-02-14T21:43:09Z

‎Cyril and Bernard Mills Ltd.

Djando: /* The Flying Director */

2026-02-14T21:42:41Z

‎The Flying Director

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2026-02-14T21:41:23Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-07-03T03:01:35Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-07-03T03:01:03Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* The Flying Director */

2021-09-14T22:16:10Z

‎The Flying Director

Djando at 17:15, 15 May 2019

2019-05-15T17:15:35Z

Djando: /* Circus Owner and Director */

2019-05-15T17:14:43Z

‎Circus Owner and Director

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 ===Life After The Bertram Mills Circus===
-[[File:Cyril_Mills_Center_Circus.jpeg|thumb|left|300px|Brighton Centre Circus (1978)]]Cyril Mills had retired in 1966 to his sumptuous home in Cumberland Terrace, London, with his second wife, Mimi Meredith, a Canadian, whom he had married in 1950. Her son by her first marriage, Frederick Meredith, had been Cyril’s assistant during the last decade or so of the touring circus. Cyril had two children from a previous marriage, and he and Mimi had a son and a daughter together. Their son Christopher became a very successful financier in the City, seating on the boards of several investment trusts and other banking and finance groups. In retirement, Cyril was guided by Christopher in his investments and confided that from these, he made far more money than he ever made with the circus.
+[[File:Cyril_Mills_Center_Circus.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|Brighton Centre Circus (1978)]]Cyril Mills had retired in 1966 to his sumptuous home in Cumberland Terrace, London, with his second wife, Mimi Meredith, a Canadian, whom he had married in 1950. Her son by her first marriage, Frederick Meredith, had been Cyril’s assistant during the last decade or so of the touring circus. Cyril had two children from a previous marriage, and he and Mimi had a son and a daughter together. Their son Christopher became a very successful financier in the City, seating on the boards of several investment trusts and other banking and finance groups. In retirement, Cyril was guided by Christopher in his investments and confided that from these, he made far more money than he ever made with the circus.
 In 1967, Cyril Mills wrote a book, ''Bertram Mills Circus &mdash; Its Story'', which was reprinted in 1983 in paperback. He was also the subject of the popular television show ''This Is Your Life'' in January 1989, and in October 1990, appeared again on ''This Is Your Life'', this time honouring his former ringmaster, [[Norman Barrett]]. Probably the highlight of Cyril Mills’ career came on December 18, 1952, when Her Majesty the Queen attended a charity performance at the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia in London. It was the first occasion on which a reigning monarch made an official visit to a public performance of a circus in Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth II eventually honoured the Bertram Mills Circus on twelve different occasions.

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 ===The Final Years===
-[[File:Bertram_Mills_Circus_66.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Last Program Cover]]For a short while, Cyril and Bernard Mills made a stab at the cinema business with ''Interama'', a Cinerama show under a big top especially constructed for touring this form of entertainment. It failed eventually. An earlier chance to stage the [[Moscow Circus]] for the first time in England in 1956 was decisively turned down by Cyril Mills, his fiery anti-communist views overcoming his business instincts.
+[[File:Bertram_Mills_Circus_66.jpg|left|thumb|300px|The Last Program Cover]]For a short while, Cyril and Bernard Mills made a stab at the cinema business with ''Interama'', a Cinerama show under a big top especially constructed for touring this form of entertainment. It failed eventually. An earlier chance to stage the [[Moscow Circus]] for the first time in England in 1956 was decisively turned down by Cyril Mills, his fiery anti-communist views overcoming his business instincts.
 Rising costs, dwindling profits, and the relentlessly increasing hold of television on the entertainment world were the downfall of the Mills show. Deeply loyal to the memory of their beloved father, Cyril and Bernard Mills had continued the show in the style and standards he had created, and were totally unwilling to concede to new ideas or accept a lowering of the template standards. Yet, in the early post-war period, the show was being challenged by new rivals: [[Tom Arnold]] and [[Clem Butson]] at the Harringay Arena in London at Christmas, and the Chipperfields and the Smarts with their more brash, colourful and appealing shows, both with hordes of animals, in the provinces.

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 ===Cyril and Bernard Mills Ltd.===
-[[Image:Bernard_and_Cyril_Mills_.jpg|Bernard and Cyril Mills (c.1950)|thumb|left|350px]]Cyril and Bernard Mills’ father, Bertram Mills, died in 1938, on the day of the Bertram Mills Circus’ season premiere; as tradition dictates, "The show must go on," and so it did. Then Cyril and Bernard took over the running of the company, forming with their mother, Ethel, ''Cyril and Bernard Mills Ltd.'' The brothers worked well together, each having his own function in the company. Cyril concentrated on the technical aspect and the booking of the programme and its artistic content. Bernard was in charge of the company’s animal acts and trainers, and of the administrative side of the business&mdash;although they could both complement the abilities of the other.
+[[Image:Bernard_and_Cyril_Mills_.jpg|Bernard and Cyril Mills (c.1950)|thumb|right|350px]]Cyril and Bernard Mills’ father, Bertram Mills, died in 1938, on the day of the Bertram Mills Circus’ season premiere; as tradition dictates, "The show must go on," and so it did. Then Cyril and Bernard took over the running of the company, forming with their mother, Ethel, ''Cyril and Bernard Mills Ltd.'' The brothers worked well together, each having his own function in the company. Cyril concentrated on the technical aspect and the booking of the programme and its artistic content. Bernard was in charge of the company’s animal acts and trainers, and of the administrative side of the business&mdash;although they could both complement the abilities of the other.
 Bernard Notley Mills was born on May 10, 1905, and like his brother, was educated at Harrow and Cambridge before entering his father’s circus business in 1925. Tall, slim and always immaculately dressed, he had inherited from his father his sound horse sense and tailored perfection. A member of the Coaching Club, he was a notable horseman and judge at leading horseshows, as had been his father, in both Europe and the United States. He bought all the fine horses owned by the Mills Circus over the years, and engaged all the "house" trainers for the Mills animal acts.

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 ===The Flying Director===
-But the story is racing ahead! Back in 1933, by which time the Bertram Mills’ tenting show was established as Britain’s finest, Cyril Mills found himself one day in a crowded tent, confronted by three tigers: Three of [[Togare]]’s tigers escaped the big cage during a performance at Davenport. Fortunately, Mills and some circus staff were able to round up the animals before anyone was injured. In the same season, fire struck at Gloucester and he averted disaster by directing a fireman to drench the big top with water before the flames could reach it. Cyril Mills had become a true circus man.
+[[File:Bertram_Mills_-_Koringa.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Koringa at Bertram Milles Circus (1929)]]But the story is racing ahead! Back in 1933, by which time the Bertram Mills’ tenting show was established as Britain’s finest, Cyril Mills found himself one day in a crowded tent, confronted by three tigers: Three of [[Togare]]’s tigers escaped the big cage during a performance at Davenport. Fortunately, Mills and some circus staff were able to round up the animals before anyone was injured. In the same season, fire struck at Gloucester and he averted disaster by directing a fireman to drench the big top with water before the flames could reach it. Cyril Mills had become a true circus man.
 That same year, in 1933, Cyril obtained a private pilot’s licence and purchased the first of his three aircrafts, which he flew until 1951. During these years, he did most of his talent-spotting by air, often flying up to 35,000 miles a year in search of acts. He became the first circus proprietor to travel around Europe seeking acts under his own power. (In post-war years, [[Billy Smart|Ronnie Smart]], of [[Billy Smart’s Circus]], copied his exploits.)

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 Image:Carmo_tenting_circus_%2B_queue.jpg|The Great Carmo/Mills Circus (1929)
 File:Bertram_Mills_Circus.jpg|Bertram Mills Circus on tour (1932)
 Image:Bernard_and_Cyril_Mills_.jpg|Bernard and Cyril Mills (c.1950)
 Image:Cyril_%26_Bernard_Mills_with_Elizabeth_II_.jpg|Cyril and Bernard Mills and Queen Elizabeth II (c.1955)

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 But the story is racing ahead! Back in 1933, by which time the Bertram Mills’ tenting show was established as Britain’s finest, Cyril Mills found himself one day in a crowded tent, confronted by three tigers: Three of [[Togare]]’s tigers escaped the big cage during a performance at Davenport. Fortunately, Mills and some circus staff were able to round up the animals before anyone was injured. In the same season, fire struck at Gloucester and he averted disaster by directing a fireman to drench the big top with water before the flames could reach it. Cyril Mills had become a true circus man.
-That same year, in 1933, Cyril obtained a private pilot’s licence and purchased the first of his three aircrafts, which he flew until 1951. During these years, he did most of his talent-spotting by air, often flying up to 35,000 miles a year in search of acts. He became the first circus proprietor to travel around Europe seeking acts under his own power. (In post-war years, [[Billy Smart|Ronnie Smart]], of Billy Smart’s Circus]], copied his exploits.)
+That same year, in 1933, Cyril obtained a private pilot’s licence and purchased the first of his three aircrafts, which he flew until 1951. During these years, he did most of his talent-spotting by air, often flying up to 35,000 miles a year in search of acts. He became the first circus proprietor to travel around Europe seeking acts under his own power. (In post-war years, [[Billy Smart|Ronnie Smart]], of [[Billy Smart’s Circus]], copied his exploits.)
 Among the spectacular acts he discovered for the circus over the years were [[Koringa]], who "hypnotised" crocodiles and had herself buried alive; [[Rudi Horn]], a young German who tossed cups and saucers from the tip of his foot to his head while balancing on a unicycle; [[Little John]] (John Seidel), the twelve-year-old Danish Boy-Wonder equilibrist; [[Con Colleano]], the world’s greatest wirewalker; [[Borra]], "The King of Pickpockets;" American clown [[Emmett Kelly]]; the [[Flying Gaonas]]; and the Japanese cycling star [[Lilly Yokoi]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:15, 15 May 2019
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−	[[File:Bertram_Mills_in_(c.1935).jpg\|thumb\|left\|~~300px~~\|Bertram W. Mills]]Howard Campbell, a distinguished journalist and a fellow "spook" at MI6 (the British Secret Services) during the Second World War, summed up Cyril Mills as "an enterprising, perceptive, obstinate, opinionated, cheerful, loyal, delightful and wholly lovable man." Praise indeed for one of the greatest circus proprietors of the twentieth century. Cyril Mills (1902-1991) and his younger brother, Bernard (1908-1985), continued, after the death of their father, [[Bertram Mills\|Bertram W. Mills]], in 1938 to direct the great circus he had created in England in 1920—until its closure in 1967.	+	[[File:Bertram_Mills_in_(c.1935).jpg\|thumb\|left\|250px\|Bertram W. Mills]]Howard Campbell, a distinguished journalist and a fellow "spook" at MI6 (the British Secret Services) during the Second World War, summed up Cyril Mills as "an enterprising, perceptive, obstinate, opinionated, cheerful, loyal, delightful and wholly lovable man." Praise indeed for one of the greatest circus proprietors of the twentieth century. Cyril Mills (1902-1991) and his younger brother, Bernard (1908-1985), continued, after the death of their father, [[Bertram Mills\|Bertram W. Mills]], in 1938 to direct the great circus he had created in England in 1920—until its closure in 1967.

	The [[Bertram Mills Circus]] was started by Bertram Wagstaff Mills, a former RASC Captain in the First World War, who was a coach builder, an international horseshow judge, and ran a very successful undertaker’s business in London. As the story goes, Mills, who had many influential friends in high places, attended a performance of the ''Great Victory Circus and Allied Fair'' at the Olympia exhibition hall in London during the 1919/1920 winter season; when pressed for his opinion of the show, he is recorded as having said, "If I could not give the people a better circus than that for their money, I’d eat my hat!"		The [[Bertram Mills Circus]] was started by Bertram Wagstaff Mills, a former RASC Captain in the First World War, who was a coach builder, an international horseshow judge, and ran a very successful undertaker’s business in London. As the story goes, Mills, who had many influential friends in high places, attended a performance of the ''Great Victory Circus and Allied Fair'' at the Olympia exhibition hall in London during the 1919/1920 winter season; when pressed for his opinion of the show, he is recorded as having said, "If I could not give the people a better circus than that for their money, I’d eat my hat!"

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:14, 15 May 2019
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−	[[File:Bertram_Mills_in_(c.1935).jpg\|thumb\|left\|~~180px~~\|Bertram W. Mills]]Howard Campbell, a distinguished journalist and a fellow "spook" at MI6 (the British Secret Services) during the Second World War, summed up Cyril Mills as "an enterprising, perceptive, obstinate, opinionated, cheerful, loyal, delightful and wholly lovable man." Praise indeed for one of the greatest circus proprietors of the twentieth century. Cyril Mills (1902-1991) and his younger brother, Bernard (1908-1985), continued, after the death of their father, [[Bertram Mills\|Bertram W. Mills]], in 1938 to direct the great circus he had created in England in 1920—until its closure in 1967.	+	[[File:Bertram_Mills_in_(c.1935).jpg\|thumb\|left\|300px\|Bertram W. Mills]]Howard Campbell, a distinguished journalist and a fellow "spook" at MI6 (the British Secret Services) during the Second World War, summed up Cyril Mills as "an enterprising, perceptive, obstinate, opinionated, cheerful, loyal, delightful and wholly lovable man." Praise indeed for one of the greatest circus proprietors of the twentieth century. Cyril Mills (1902-1991) and his younger brother, Bernard (1908-1985), continued, after the death of their father, [[Bertram Mills\|Bertram W. Mills]], in 1938 to direct the great circus he had created in England in 1920—until its closure in 1967.

	The [[Bertram Mills Circus]] was started by Bertram Wagstaff Mills, a former RASC Captain in the First World War, who was a coach builder, an international horseshow judge, and ran a very successful undertaker’s business in London. As the story goes, Mills, who had many influential friends in high places, attended a performance of the ''Great Victory Circus and Allied Fair'' at the Olympia exhibition hall in London during the 1919/1920 winter season; when pressed for his opinion of the show, he is recorded as having said, "If I could not give the people a better circus than that for their money, I’d eat my hat!"		The [[Bertram Mills Circus]] was started by Bertram Wagstaff Mills, a former RASC Captain in the First World War, who was a coach builder, an international horseshow judge, and ran a very successful undertaker’s business in London. As the story goes, Mills, who had many influential friends in high places, attended a performance of the ''Great Victory Circus and Allied Fair'' at the Olympia exhibition hall in London during the 1919/1920 winter season; when pressed for his opinion of the show, he is recorded as having said, "If I could not give the people a better circus than that for their money, I’d eat my hat!"