The arrival of Arbuthnot’s son created such a stir in the media that once more our famous duo was propelled into the public eye. Arbuthnot Jnr was born whilst the show was on its winter break meaning that all the performers had time to play with the little one before preparing for the next years travelling. However it was the youngsters first launching from the cannon that grabbed the media attention. Due to an error of judgement by someone his pram was left in close proximity to the cannon. The captain had a test firing and came flying from the cannons mouth, seeing his offspring in his path he had two options either crash headfirst into the pram or try to catch it and take it along for the ride. Naturally as any father would he chose the latter option successfully carrying baby, dummy still in mouth, a record distance and landing safely. Whilst Jnr remained sound asleep throughout his first flight it shook Arbuthnot considerably. The press declared the baby the youngest human cannonball ever. Despite the huge publicity potential all agreed it would be unsafe to repeat the performance on a regular basis.

It was during the long winter months that Colonel Tandy decided to review the transport for his circus. He felt that as their show paraded through each town they performed in he should invest more in the image of his vehicles. So first off the production line of his skilled workers was a red and gold carved parade wagon to be pulled by his two favourite horses. Ironically this was never used in the show due to a near catastrophic incident involving the Colonel. As was a tradition of the era the wagon was massively over engineered and weighed in excess of two tons. It was decided to test this first wagon before building further examples, so his horses were fetched and the wagon lead to the tallest hill in the area. Whilst clearly not fond of the idea his noble charges successfully dragged the wagon to the top of the hill but had no intention of continuing down the other side.

A rather over enthusiastic stable boy decided to walk the horses back, leaving the wagon and colonel stranded at the top of the hill. As brakes at this time left a lot to be desired it was not surprising the wagon began to roll, sailing past the stable boy at considerable speed. The colonel’s exclamation of ‘YOU’RE FIRED!!!!!’ as he passed could be heard several miles away. Fortunately traffic was calm for the time of day and the wagon rolled to a gradual halt before hitting a farmer’s barn, launching the colonel from his seat and depositing him head first in the dung heap. The taunting from Arbuthnot, whose reputation for crash landings was almost stolen, continued for many years after. From then on the wagon remained at the winter quarters through fear that it could once more break loose. Now it features as the central attraction in the shows entrance area.

Archibald continued to grow up fast and this year put in his first appearance in the ring. It was another in a string of wild animal disasters that the little one so frequently encountered. The youngster had clearly been fascinated by the chimpanzees that had been introduced to the show. He would regularly play with the animals and more often than not be found shivering in the corner minus his jumper and trousers. These having been stolen and worn by one of the mischievous creatures. As the chimps clearly liked the young lad and it was felt he was in no danger this became the new act for that year. Archibald denied this in later life when writing his memoirs, but lets be honest most people would!

The Great Tandadino also had a lucky year. One of his elephants gave birth to twins, one male and one female. This was the first time anyone on the show, Tandadino included, had seen baby elephants and no one could have believed the fun they had. Almost everyone played with them, they could kick a ball better than most footballers. This lead to the latest in a line of collectables to sell at the circus. Many a young lad at the time would see the elephants playing and want a ball of his own to take home. All the balls were hand sewn and each one featured an elephant motif sewn into one of the hexagonal panels that made up the ball. Due to their popularity many hundreds of the elephant balls were sold in towns all over the country. Whilst not the most collectable memorabilia, the balls remain popular amongst real enthusiasts.

Part Six... Music to Our Ears

In part six of this epic journey through the shows history we learn about Captain Arbuthnot’s latest obsession, mechanical music!

Actual events and historical accuracy are once more questionable