Nell Gifford 1973-2019
In her teens, Nell Gifford ran away to join the circus. Later, she founded, with her then husband, a circus of her own. Modelled on the small-scale travelling circuses that had existed at the turn of the last century, it toured the village greens ofEngland every summer, with trapeze artists and acrobats, fire-eaters, jugglers, magicians, musicians, clowns, horses and the occasional duck (but no wild animals), who performed in asmall sawdust ring, under a big top. At the end of the evening, Gifford herself would often appear on horseback, dressed in a splendid gown, her thick blonde hair flowing behind her. It was, its critics said, a rather middle class affair, the Glyndebourne of circuses. But even the sceptics were usually beguiled by the charm, wit and…
