This sketch was made during a performance at incredibly rapid speed and only by the light afforded in the tent, by the Brighton-based illustrator, author, poet performer and teacher Curtis Tappenden. He visits many shows and has made hundreds of lightning drawings capturing the moment at the ringside.

Oreste Rastelli Jnr. and Vittorio Rastelli are members of the musical clowning family the Rastellis. The original troupe was created in the 1930s by the Italian acrobat Oreste Rastelli (1900-1962) and after several changes of family members, stopped in 1985. Oreste Jnr. and Vittorio started a new troupe in 2011, first as a musical clown duo, then as a trio, and finally, in 2015, in its original form as a quatuor, reviving the perennial Rastelli exploding piano entrée.

After beginning his performing career as Zippo the Clown in the 1970s, Martin Burton started Zippos Circus in 1986 as a non-animal show comprising four clowns, two jugglers and a pianist, with a stage instead of a circus ring. Zippos is now one of the UK’s top three circuses, touring the country from April to October. Its spin-off Cirque Berserk! which started out at Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland in 2012, tours the UK from January to March performing in theatres and encouraging the audience to use their phones for photography and social media during performance, acting as an excellent promotional too