Martin Lacey Jr. (born 8 June 1977) is an English circus performer and trainer of wild animals who has achieved fame in Germany. He is the son of Martin Lacey, the circus ringmaster and animal trainer who bred most of the tigers used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s.
Lacey is the director of predatory animals at Circus Krone, the largest circus organisation in Europe. [1] As well as lions, he also works with a rhinoceros. [2]
In 2004 he performed in the German television series Anke Late Night . [3] He has frequently appeared on German news and entertainment television shows.
Lacey's performances with wild animals have won him various circus awards:
In 2008, Indian newspaper The Tribune reported that Lacey was hand-rearing three lion cubs at Circus Krone, as their mother Ruth was unable to provide enough milk. [7]
His father, Martin Lacey, is director of the Great British Circus. His mother, Susan Lacey, is a retired animal trainer who performed in the circus industry for many years. [8] He has two brothers’: Alexander, who also works as an animal trainer and performer, [9] and Richard. Martin Lacey Jr. is married to Jana Mandana Lacey-Krone and has a son, Alexis Henry Lacey-Krone. [10]
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the field of performance, training and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
Quidam was the ninth stage show produced by Cirque du Soleil. It premiered in April 1996 and has been watched by millions of spectators around the world. Quidam originated as a big-top show in Montreal and was converted into an arena format beginning with its 2010 tour in North America. It then changed back to the Big Top for a 3-month run in Seoul, South Korea before returning to an arena show for its tour to Oceania. The show performed for the final time in Christchurch, New Zealand on February 26, 2016.
Oleg Konstantinovich Popov was a Soviet and Russian clown and circus artist. He was awarded People's Artist of the USSR in 1969.
Animal training is the act of teaching animals specific responses to specific conditions or stimuli. Training may be for purposes such as companionship, detection, protection, and entertainment. The type of training an animal receives will vary depending on the training method used, and the purpose for training the animal. For example, a seeing eye dog will be trained to achieve a different goal than a wild animal in a circus.
Lion taming is the taming and training of lions, either for protection or for use in entertainment, such as the circus. The term often applies to the taming and display of lions and other big cats such as tigers, leopards, jaguars, black panthers, cheetahs, and cougars. People often use lion taming as a metaphor for any dangerous activity. Lion taming occurs in zoos around the world to enable the keepers to carry out medical procedures and feedings.
Anthony Gatto is an American juggler who holds several juggling world records. He began performing in Las Vegas at the age of ten.
Chipperfield's Circus is a British family touring show, continuing a 300-year-old family business.
Barry Lubin is an American circus performer best known for his Grandma character. His Grandma character was a headline act at the Big Apple Circus in New York City for 25 seasons from 1982 until his 2012 retirement and relocation to Sweden. Lubin's return to the Big Apple Circus in late 2017 was cut short in January 2018 when he admitted to having pressured an underaged, sixteen-year-old circus performer to pose for pornographic pictures in 2004.
Dolly Jacobs is an American circus aerialist. She is the daughter of famed circus clown Lou Jacobs and former New York fashion model turned circus performer Jean Rockwell Jacobs. She began her circus career in 1975. She was a featured performer with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. She left Ringling in 1984 for the Big Apple Circus where she worked until 1985 and again during 1987 and 1988.
Laci Endresz Jr. is an English circus performer who performs as the circus clown Mooky the Clown. He has been the main clown at the Blackpool Tower Circus since 1999.
Scott & Muriel is the stage name of the comedy duo Scott Nelson and Muriel Brugman, a husband and wife team of comedy illusionists and entertainers. Their style of performance can best be described as "slapstick magic," a combination of visual comedy, slapstick, modern clowning, and illusions.
The International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo is an annual circus festival that is held in Monaco every January. The festival was created in 1974 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to recognize and promote circus performers at the pinnacle of their profession. It was initially held in Monte Carlo until the festival's permanent venue in Monaco's Fontvieille district, the Chapiteau de Fontvieille, was completed.
Great British Circus was a company that specialized in circus entertainment. Unusually for a UK-based circus company, it included wild animals such as tigers, camels and lions in its acts. Martin Lacey was the company's owner and Circus Director. In 2012, at the age of 70, he announced he would retire and the Great British Circus would not return for a 2013 season.
Martin Lacey is a circus ringmaster, company director and trainer of wild animals. He trained most of the tigers that were used in the Esso television advertisements in the 1970s
Circus Krone, based in Munich, is one of the largest circuses in Europe and one of the few in Western Europe to also occupy a building.
David Larible is an Italian clown.
Encho Keryazov is a Bulgarian acrobat.
Peter Shub is an American actor, clown and vaudeville show director who moved to Europe in the 1980s. He has worked with a number of distinguished international organizations and artists and went on tour with well known circuses such as the German Circus Roncalli, the Big Apple from New York and the Canadian Cirque du Soleil. He has won a Silver Clown of Monte Carlo award and went on tour with his own show as well as with other vaudeville shows throughout Europe. He has been called a "legend", a "modern master", and a "fixture of the German Varieté world."
The Berousek family is a Czech family, originally from Vilémov, with members who have been circus performers for two centuries. Skills include comedy, puppetry, acrobatics, equestrianism, bear training, tight rope walking, and juggling.
