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. is a member 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 his brother Vittorio started their new troupe, the New Rastellis, 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.