Gerry Cottle - Revision history

Djando: /* A Chaotic Life */

2021-05-29T17:36:04Z

‎A Chaotic Life

Djando: /* A Chaotic Life */

2021-05-29T17:35:32Z

‎A Chaotic Life

Djando: /* A Chaotic Life */

2021-05-17T19:28:48Z

‎A Chaotic Life

Djando: /* Epilogue */

2021-05-06T19:14:44Z

‎Epilogue

Djando: /* A Chaotic Life */

2021-05-06T19:09:12Z

‎A Chaotic Life

Djando: /* A Chaotic Life */

2021-05-06T19:08:41Z

‎A Chaotic Life

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2021-05-06T19:07:33Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Enter Brian Austen */

2021-05-06T18:53:31Z

‎Enter Brian Austen

Djando: /* From the Moscow State Circus to Circus of Horrors */

2021-05-06T18:53:02Z

‎From the Moscow State Circus to Circus of Horrors

Djando: /* Gerry Cottle’s Circuses */

2021-05-06T18:52:38Z

‎Gerry Cottle’s Circuses

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ===A Chaotic Life===
-[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
+[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]]Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
-]His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.
+His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.
 Finally, in 2003, he decided to leave the circus for good. He sold his interests in the Moscow State Circus and the Chinese State Circus to Brian Austen, his interest in the Circus of Horrors to John Haze (whom he had involved in other projects, such as Continental Circus Berlin, which Haze now owns), and disposed of all his other circus interests and possessions in order to raise money and build an antique center in Addlestone, Surrey&mdash;but he failed to obtain a planning permit and lost £30,000 in the venture. Of course, this was not enough to discourage Gerry Cottle: His next move was to buy Wookey Hole Caves.

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 ===A Chaotic Life===
-Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
+[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
-[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]]His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.
+]His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.
 Finally, in 2003, he decided to leave the circus for good. He sold his interests in the Moscow State Circus and the Chinese State Circus to Brian Austen, his interest in the Circus of Horrors to John Haze (whom he had involved in other projects, such as Continental Circus Berlin, which Haze now owns), and disposed of all his other circus interests and possessions in order to raise money and build an antique center in Addlestone, Surrey&mdash;but he failed to obtain a planning permit and lost £30,000 in the venture. Of course, this was not enough to discourage Gerry Cottle: His next move was to buy Wookey Hole Caves.

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ===A Chaotic Life===
-[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]]Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
+Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
-−
-His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.
+[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]]His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.
 Finally, in 2003, he decided to leave the circus for good. He sold his interests in the Moscow State Circus and the Chinese State Circus to Brian Austen, his interest in the Circus of Horrors to John Haze (whom he had involved in other projects, such as Continental Circus Berlin, which Haze now owns), and disposed of all his other circus interests and possessions in order to raise money and build an antique center in Addlestone, Surrey&mdash;but he failed to obtain a planning permit and lost £30,000 in the venture. Of course, this was not enough to discourage Gerry Cottle: His next move was to buy Wookey Hole Caves.

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 ===Epilogue===
-A very successful venture, Wookey Hole Caves will be Gerry Cottle’s lasting legacy. Yet, he couldn’t really put his hands off the circus: Beside his circus-cum-school at Wookey Hole, he launched a new show, ''Wow Circus'', which he took on the road with his three daughters (his son had become a movie exhibitor and created the very successful ''Rooftop Cinema Club''). Wow Circus was not a resounding success and didn’t last very long. It could have been yet another bump in Gerry's long career, but not a financial catastrophe: At long last, like his friend Brian Austen, he had diversified his investments and was finally racking up the benefits of his Somerset venture.
+A very successful venture, Wookey Hole Caves will be Gerry Cottle’s lasting legacy. Yet, he couldn’t really put his hands off the circus: Beside his circus-cum-school at Wookey Hole, he launched a new show, ''Wow Circus'', which he took on the road with his three daughters (his son had left the circus; he became a movie exhibitor and created the very successful ''Rooftop Cinema Club''). Wow Circus was not a resounding success and didn’t last very long. It could have been yet another bump in Gerry's long career, but not a financial catastrophe: At long last, like his friend Brian Austen, he had diversified his investments and was finally racking up the benefits of his Somerset venture.
 In 2006, Gerry published his memoirs, ''Confessions of a Showman – My life in the Circus,'' in which he was quite candid about his private life and his drug addiction. One wonders what else Gerry Cottle, the ultimate showman, would have created had the Coronavirus pandemic not hit the planet in 2020: Gerry Cottle, who was battling prostate cancer, died of Covid-19 in Bath, twenty miles away from Wookey Hole, on January 13, 2021. He had seven grndchildren and two great-grandchildren. His passing was widely acknowledged by the British media, which recalled at length Gerry’s colorful career, his many achievements, and saluted in him Britain’s greatest showman&mdash;which indeed he had had been.

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 ===A Chaotic Life===
-[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]]Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
+[[File:Wookey_Hole.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Wookey Hole Resort Ad (2018)]]Gerry Cottle was a man of great charm and, for all his fame and glory, of great simplicity. He had numerous extra-marital affairs and he and Betty eventually separated in the 1990s, but they never divorced. (Together, they had had four children, Sarah, April, Juliette-Anne, known as Polly, and Gerry Jr.) Gerry had a long relationship with Anna Carter, the co-founder of Carters Steam Fair (a small traveling funfair with vintage restored carrousels and attractions), but he had many other girlfriends. In 1983, one of them introduced him to cocaine: It was the beginning of a long addiction that may explain his creative frenzy and recklessness. In 1991, Gerry was arrested for substance possession, fined, and jailed for a short time. This finally led him to give up drugs definitely.
 His businesses suffered indeed greatly from his habit. Then, in 1994, he had to declare bankruptcy (for the second time) after being sentenced for tax evasion. By then, he had become convinced that circus with wild animals in Britain had no future: Constantly badgered by animal activists, he had sold his last elephant in 1993, and the Circus of Horrors project gave him the welcome possibility to go in a different direction&mdash;although he will always remain a staunch defender of classical circus.

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 File:Docktor_Haze.jpg|John Haze as "Doktor Haze" (c.2015)
 File:Cottle_and_Girls.jpg|Gerry Cottle (2017)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Cottle, Gerry]]

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 At the James Brothers Circus, Gerry reunited with his friend Brian Austen, who was performing in the show with his girlfriend. As far as their passion for the circus went, Gerry and Brian were very similar, but they differed in many other ways. Gerry was a gambler, a congenial extrovert who had the makings of a true showman, knowing how to generate publicity and put himself at the center of attention&mdash;whereas Brian, who was two years Gerry’s junior and came from a poor working class background, was shy and discreet and preferred to remain in the shadows. Yet, Brian had a strong entrepreneurial drive, but he was also pragmatic and financially conservative, and he understood well the logistics and technical aspects of the circus. Gerry Cottle and Brian Austen actually complemented each other well.
-[[File:Cottle_and_Austen_1973.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Poster for Cottle & Austen (1973)]]The first circus Austen had joined was a deteriorating outfit pompously titled ''Count Lazard’s Anglo-American Circus'', with which he eventually landed in South Africa. Once there, the Count discovered that his promoter had vanished. After a rude apprenticeship in circus survival, during which the resourceful Brian helped in no small part the Anglo-American regain its footing, he left the Count and his circus, and returned to Britain with his new girlfriend, Mavis, who was Count Lazard’s sister-in-law... The experience had served him well: Brian had learned during his adventure with Count Lazard what you shouldn’t do if you wanted to run a circus successfully.
+[[File:Cottle_and_Austen_1973.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Poster for Cottle & Austen (1973)]]The first circus Austen had joined was a deteriorating outfit pompously titled ''Count Lazard’s Anglo-American Circus'', with which he eventually landed in South Africa. Once there, the Count discovered that his promoter had vanished. After a rude apprenticeship in circus survival, during which the resourceful Brian helped in no small part the Anglo-American regain its footing, he left the Count and his circus, and returned to Britain with his new girlfriend, Mavis, who was Count Lazard’s sister-in-law... The experience had served him well: Brian had learned during his adventure with Count Lazard what you shouldn’t do if you wanted to run a circus successfully.
 It is probably Brian who spotted the crumbling Embassy Circus: He knew all too well when a failing circus was reaching the end of its rope. He and Gerry joined forces and acquired what was left of it in 1970. With Brian’s technical know-how and Gerry’s flair for publicity, they quickly put the enterprise back on its feet and changed its name to ''Cottle & Austen Circus''. They opened their new show on July 6, 1970 in the small town of Sturminster Newton in Dorset, in the southeast of England. Gerry Cottle was finally what he had always wanted to be: A circus owner.

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 ===From the Moscow State Circus to Circus of Horrors===
-[[File:Gerry_Cottle_and_Brian_Austen.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Gerry Cottle and Brian Austen (c.2000)]]In 1991, the Soviet Union was collapsing, and numerous Russian artists and newly formed independent circus companies (as well as [[SoyuzGosTsirk]], the old Soviet State Circus company), were approaching Western producers to tour their shows out of Russia. Gerry Cottle and Brian Austen joined forces once more and jumped on the opportunity; they created their long-lasting ''Moscow State Circus''. The show, composed entirely of imported Russian acts, has proved very successful and, with regularly renewed programs, has toured the U.K. under the big top up to this day (2021).
+[[File:Gerry_Cottle_and_Brian_Austen.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Gerry Cottle and Brian Austen (c.2000)]]In 1991, the Soviet Union was collapsing, and numerous Russian artists and newly formed independent circus companies (as well as [[SoyuzGosTsirk]], the old Soviet State Circus company), were approaching Western producers to tour their shows out of Russia. Gerry Cottle and Brian Austen joined forces once more and jumped on the opportunity; they created their long-lasting ''Moscow State Circus''. The show, composed entirely of imported Russian acts, has proved very successful and, with regularly renewed programs, has toured the U.K. under the big top up to this day (2021).
 At the same time, Gerry Cottle's Circus was expanding its activities: For the Christmas season 1992-93, following in Bertram Mills's and Tom Armold's footsteps, Gerry presented a circus spectacular at Wembley in London, and at the same time, had his Gerry Cottle's Circus under the big top offering another show at Battersea Park. Gerry was the first showman who had two circuses playing simultaneously in London!

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 Yet, there was another venture that is often overlooked and, although short-lived, was successful in its purpose: Gerry Cottle’s Circus School. It was created in 1984, at a time when circus schools were beginning to pop up everywhere in Western Europe (the first of which had been created in Paris in 1974 on the Russian model), and immediately attracted young people who didn’t belong to the still very secluded circus world and wanted to embrace a circus career.
-[[File:Cottle_Hong_King_1982.jpg|thumb|left|450px|Gerry Cottle in Hong Kong (1982)]]Two years later, in 1986, one of the school’s acts, [[The Andrews]] (Andrew Watson and Jacqueline Williams), who performed a romantic trapeze duet, won a Bronze Medal at the [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] in Paris. Afterwards, The Andrews enjoyed a successful international career and Andrew Watson eventually became an Artistic Director at [[Cirque du Soleil]]. With his circus school, Gerry Cottle had proved to be a visionary and a pioneer, and one can only regret that this early experiment, which predated London’s Circus Space (today London’s National Centre for Circus Arts), didn’t last longer.
+[[File:Cottle_Hong_King_1982.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Gerry Cottle in Hong Kong (1982)]]Two years later, in 1986, one of the school’s acts, [[The Andrews]] (Andrew Watson and Jacqueline Williams), who performed a romantic trapeze duet, won a Bronze Medal at the [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] in Paris. Afterwards, The Andrews enjoyed a successful international career and Andrew Watson eventually became an Artistic Director at [[Cirque du Soleil]]. With his circus school, Gerry Cottle had proved to be a visionary and a pioneer, and one can only regret that this early experiment, which predated London’s Circus Space (today London’s National Centre for Circus Arts), didn’t last longer.
 At that time, however (in the 1980s), Gerry Cottle was particularly busy: From the late seventies through the eighties, he took his circus to the Middle and Far East, visiting, Oman, the Emirates, Hon-Kong, China, Malaysia, and Singapore; closer to home, he also visited Ireland, and, in 1990, The Netherlands&mdash;a visit heralded as the beginning of a European tour that never materialized (and was probably just good circus ballyhoo). These tours, however, were not always rewarding. In 1979, he decided to take his circus to Iran; he had boarded all the artists booked for the occasion and all his circus equipment on cargo ships, when he learned the Iranian Revolution had started! His producer, an Iranian general, had not yet paid the contractual deposit and vanished in the turmoil; left penniless with mounting debts, Cottle was obliged to declare bankruptcy.