Pablo Fanque's Fair

The Victorian age offered few opportunities for Black-Britons, making Pablo Fanque's circus all the more impressive. Born William Darby, he was a talented equestrian performer, acrobat and show-runner. In fact, one Fanque's playbills inspired John Lennon.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from house
stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sarah Dowdy. And and it is Black History Month,
so always important to mark and take a look at

(00:22):
the very rich history available in that arena. It does,
and UM, you know, people will write in sometimes with
topic suggestions and say, I know I miss Black History Month.
Don't ever feel like you have to write that because
we cover African American Caribbean and does not always have
to be during Black History any time of year. But
I do always like to mark the month in part because, um,

(00:46):
for a lot of people I know, especially if they're
in school, this is the time when they're gonna, um
study people of color in their curriculum, and I feel like,
you know, important to contribute to provide some new topics
on that. UM. Today's subject though, is just so cool
for um a lot of reasons. He's a really fabulous entertainer,

(01:10):
essentially a notable horseman, very prominent black victorian UM and
Britain's first circus owner of color, which is that's like
a full package, Like I mean, just from a historical standpoint,
that is such a rich like assortment of things to

(01:31):
look at and to have it all in one person
is really fabulous. One guy Pablo Funk. So I came
across him. I had never heard about him, uh, or
at least the name didn't immediately ring a bell for
me either. I came across him in a Smithsonian article
by one of my favorite historians, Mike Dash, who writes
frequently about these sort of little known historical figures. But

(01:56):
the name might sound familiar to a few of you
out there. For one particular reason, We're going to stop
for a minute and play a little clip and Lati

(02:21):
so the Beatles fans in the crowd probably recognize that clip.
You know, what we're talking about being for the benefit
of Mr Kite off of the Beatles Sergeant Pepper album
and um, A lot of the figures in the song
are real Victorian circuit stars. I know, probably most people
just assume John Lennon made him up. There's a lot

(02:44):
of things going on during supper make up. Some circus
stars makeup the acts that they do, but a lot
of those figures are real people. And the way John Lennon, Uh,
she really stumbled across these hid It's like the most
awesome songwriting story. He was outside of kent in January

(03:05):
nine seven um filming video and he wandered into this
antique shop like you do when you're just on break
and you're John Lennon, and he spotted a playbill that
was advertising a circus. It was a February eighteen fifty
three show and it was being for the Benefit of

(03:27):
Mr Kite. And you can look up this playbill online.
It has I mean, if we wanted to read it,
that could be probably a thirty minute podcast on its
own busy. It's got a lot of text, a lot
of names, a lot of descriptions about what the performers do.
But you'll see you'll see the Henderson's, you'll see Pablo
there and uh, Lennon was struck by this poster. It

(03:52):
also has some cool illustrations to it shows Mr Kite
balancing on his head on a pole playing the trump
it if you can visualize that. Um but he he
bought the poster, took it home, hung it up in
his music room and started looking at it, started mussing
around with the song, and came up with being for

(04:13):
the Benefit of Mr Kite. Shortly after, Um but who
is Pablo because he kind of has a bit part
in the song, but he was running the show. He
was running the show literally. Uh. But he didn't start
out as Pablo Funk, No, he didn't. He was actually
born William Darby in in Norwich to a black father

(04:37):
and a white mother. Uh. And there's a great deal
of variant information about where his father came from and
what he did and when he died, but the general
opinion is that Darby was orphaned fairly young, and somehow
or another he found his way into the circus and then,

(04:57):
like a child like you do, um, he ended up
working with William Batty, who was a successful circus owner.
He trained him in acrobatics and tightrope walking, and he
originally had the stage name Young Darby eventually took the
stage name Pablo Funk and ultimately became known. Even though

(05:18):
he was good at acrobatics and tight rope all that
sort of stuff, he became known for his equestrian tricks.
And it's likely that he learned the tricks of that
trade with during a stint with Andrew duck Row. And
this sent me off on a really interesting research tangent

(05:38):
of circus history, because I mean he's establishing himself and
it it just sounds like, okay, he hooked up with
another talented equestrian performing in Great Britain at the time,
but by connecting to Andrew duck Row, he really set
himself in a direct line from the owner of the
first British circus, who was Philip Astley. He's almost like

(06:00):
circus royalty he has. He's like the grandson of the
King of Circus is essentially um according to the Victorian,
Albert Astley didn't coin the name circus, but he did
establish the first show that we would recognize as a
modern circus. And it all came about because he was

(06:21):
an ex cavalry man, opened up a riding school and
would do lessons in the morning and performances in the
afternoon with tricks and music. Yeah, so that kind of
do you wonder where he first got that idea of like,
you know, what, these horses need good, that we're really
going to have something. I'm imagining the first show too,

(06:41):
you know, maybe a couple a couple of students who
are sticking around after their lessons and they're like, that
was really cool. I'm sure it went down exactly practically
had done a factual reenaction. Over time, though he did
develop these performances. He started to include his wife her
signature act just because I could not go without mentioning

(07:05):
this was riding on a horse in the ring covered
in bees, which that makes me think of Eddie Arn't
but and um By seventeen eighty Philip Astley had a
real circus, a real arena with a roof, diverse circus acts,

(07:25):
no longer just equestrian tricks. Um so. So he was
the guy who started this all, and his troop was
ultimately taken over by Andrew duck Row in four and
expanded to include not just horse tricks, not just running
around in the ring, but things like equestrian drama. So horse,

(07:48):
I'm obsessed with the idea of news performed on horse
have to I think we should bring it back. Frankly, Yeah,
the Napoleonic Wars reenacted on horseback. I mean, this is
before you two before before. That was probably a pretty
spectacular way to learn what was going on in the world.
You know, I'm sure there'd be a pretty good time delay,

(08:09):
but it would be really amazing it by the time
they had to stage it. Horses, the tricks reading accounts
of some of it, a little Napoleon costume for a horse.
There's injuries and stuff from from staging these these mock battles,
but it's kind of a it's kind of a fun
little science right there. And and really does I think

(08:32):
establish though that um darby Pablo he was training with
the best of the best, uh, but he didn't stick
around with him. That was like a brief stint in
his career. He did return to Batty in four and
he had at that point developed really a fine reputation
as a horseman on his own. But his signature act,

(08:56):
according to your favorite historian, well, one of them was
leaping on horseback over a coach hitched to a pair
of horses, and through a military drum. And this is
one where I need a visualizing. I want someone to
build me a working model of how this whole thing
worked out when the drum is involved. Particularly, yeah, that

(09:18):
ah and the pair of horses, Like there I did
he land with a foot on each one? Like how
did this work? I mean, I'm well, he was jumping
over the pair of horses. He was on his horse
up over a hitch to a pair I see, was
totally off, like, so did he land on the horse

(09:40):
and I'm just kind of imagining the monster trucks jumping
over twenty cars or something. Um, except still I can't
figure out where that drum. The drum is tricky. The
point is, though he was an amazingly talented equestrian performer,
a showman. I mean, you don't come up with that

(10:00):
kind of like multi level trick unless you really just
want to wow work out. Yeah. Uh. It was not
terribly unique though that he was a black circus performer
in this time though, because that was that was not
an uncommon site at least according to Deirdre Osborne in
Studies and Theater and Performance. But the next move that

(10:22):
Pablo made was shockingly unique one for the time. That
was deciding to go out on his own and start
his own circus. That's a pretty big step to go
from performer to entrepreneur, it is. It's a huge step
for for anybody, but especially in the age he was
living in a black man owning his own business, managing

(10:44):
all of the people he ended up managing. But in
one he did go for it, struck out on his own. Uh.
Located in the north of England and didn't have much too,
you know. I mean he had been a circus performer
for quite some time by the point, but he was
only able to leave with two horses, and his acts

(11:06):
were very limited. He had the Hemmings family, um family
that performed diverse circus, ax tightrope walking. There was apparently
a clown who did tricks with a dog, and then
sort of his star performer aside from his own equestrian work,
I guess was his good friend W. F. Wallett, who
was also a clown. They were a team together. So

(11:30):
a premier clown, a family of diverse act and two
all you got to start your business with. Yeah, it's um.
That's not very much for a circus. No, it doesn't
sound like it's going to be promising. But fortunately things
worked out for Pablo Um in part because he had
such a good reputation as a boss. It attracted performers

(11:53):
uh well, and his crew was very talented, so word
of their you know, impressive skills spread very quickly. And
as you said, because he was he had this great reputation,
good things attract more good things. That reminded me, I know,
I think maybe the last episode our Taxidermist friend I

(12:14):
was saying, reminded me a little bit of Barnum p T. Barnum.
But this clearly does too in in this point, in
particular that he was a good boss. That was something
I remember reading of Barnum that his performers felt he
treated them fairly. Um. But eventually Pablo had thirty horses.

(12:35):
It was a fifteen fold increase, grew significantly, can start
doing tricks where you jump over carriages at that point. Um.
Supposedly one was from Queen Victoria's stables too, so he
was not buying. He had a band, And this sounds
very random, but it kind of makes sense when it's

(12:56):
explained he had a personal architect, which most people don't have.
I would, yeah, we would maybe claim this person an
engineer today I think, yeah, I think you're right. But
somebody who would supervise the construction of the little pop
up amphitheaters so fre thinking of traveling circuses, um, I

(13:18):
guarantee you circus has someone that fills this role. To
anybody that does a traveling show, theatrical performances that tour,
like Broadway shows that tour have someone that does this,
But I don't. They're just not called architects anymore. Make
sure that everything is safe and um, we'll get into
that a little more later. Yeah, that that those words
play a part in the story. This is the nineteenth century.

(13:41):
He also has a ring master, to which I'd say
that's the mark of a real circus at that point. UM.
Most important, though, he had a really talented advanced man.
And this plays in a lot to the John Lennon
story in the song composition story. If you think of
a um this play bill catching Lennon's attention, Uh, Pablo's

(14:04):
advanced man for a time. Edward Sheldon was a really
talented designer of these of these posters and also just
knew what he was about. But you'd send your advance
man into the next town on your on your roster,
he'd publicize it, get everybody worked up. He's your marketing division. Yeah,

(14:25):
one man marketing group essentially. And Sheldon went on to
start his own ad agency around nineteen hundred. He was
very young at this time, which makes perfect sense, it does.
He was he was ready to adapt for the new
new era. Um. But Paplo was really good at at
pr himself. I mean, he knew how to promote his

(14:46):
own tricks, usually by showing them to the public. So
he would whip through a town twelve in hand. Can
you describe what that is? Yeah, I mean if you've
ever been too. I went to Jalia last year, which
is the horse focused circus, and they have lots of
things along these lines. But do you just think of

(15:08):
a classic circus rider with multiple horses, no carriage or something,
rider with multiple horses holding them all and where is
the rider's place trying to provent questions? I'm missing that
point in my visualization. But like I've seen riders stand
on one horse while they have several others in hand. Yeah,

(15:30):
but with twelve, we just don't know where all the
horses go. It's another one where because maybe it's an
illustration for it. Where did the extra horses go? Because
that's a lot of animals to have close together under
the command of one human riding down a small English street. Yeah.
Those are not really known for their um wide open spaces.
Yeah forgiving um breath in case better. If you saw

(15:56):
I would really want to see the rest of the show.
You would probably want to go to the show. Um
And so yeah, things were things were going well for
for Pablo for his show, and six years after starting
his own show, he debuted in London, which was very successful,
and we'll get into that a little later. How tough
the London critics could be. According to John Turner, who

(16:19):
is a circus historian, Pablo performed on his famous horse, Beta,
who was a black mayor and the London Illustrated News
was particularly struck by Pablo and his horse and just
how impressive they both were and wrote, Mr Pablo Funk
is an artist of color, or rather an artiste of color,

(16:41):
that's how they put it. And his steed we have
not only never seen surpassed, but never equalled. Mr Pablo
Funk was the hit of the evening. That's how I
praise it is. You know, when you consider that this
is a circus performer and they're being held in regard
as an artist, that's really really indicative of the level

(17:03):
of his abilities and his horsemanship but also his showmanship
and uh and as a black man in Victorian England.
And we will be discussing that again more later as well.
But unfortunately, yeah, things don't always stay sweet. Um. And
you know, in the eighteen forties you could be a

(17:24):
circus success, but that didn't always mean that your fame
was assured or that you would, you know, stay on top.
I mean, as any celebrity knows, sometimes it's fleeting. Uh.
And it's a difficult business with there's so much risk
in it, there's so much competition. Uh. And then there
was tragedy. Yes, the worst story, the worst thing that

(17:47):
happened to Pablo is when his wife Susannah was killed.
The amphitheater floor collapsed. Um. They had just moved into it.
Another circus had vacant, did it and the floorboards struck
her as she was working in the box office below.
It was time to think about that architect again. The

(18:10):
architect clearly dropped the ball. He did drop the ball.
He failed to notice that the structure had been partially
taken down before they moved into it. Um. Nobody was
ever held accountable for it. But the really tragic thing
here too is that she was killed in the box office.
Someone stole the ticket box near her body. Um. From

(18:34):
it's like sad and troubling, and it is time it
is and I mean you have to imagine there. It
would be many many accidents in a in a circus,
a touring provincial circus, but this would not theaters exactly. Um.
Sometimes though, his troubles were business based. Um he had

(18:55):
to downsize the show at times. He sued a former
employee at one point because the fellow had um not
paid back some debts and it borrowed morrises. And then
probably the lowest blow on the business side was when
a creditor sold his debts to William Baddy's old boss.
So his embarrassment on top of the stress of what

(19:17):
he was dealing with, but he kept performing and he
had children at this point. Um. He actually had two marriages,
his first marriage and then his second marriage to Elizabeth Corker,
and he had a son, Ted Pablo, who went on
to be a star in his own right and actually
performed before Queen Victoria. So Pablo Senior died in eighteen

(19:43):
seventy one, and he was poor at that point. I
think he was living in a rented room. But it's
not the horribly tragic down and out ending that you
might be expecting. It's these shows normally head in this direction.
He celebrated with an elaborate funeral procession. He was still

(20:04):
so mentally popular. It's not wealthy, but he was loved for.
It was led by a band playing the Dead March,
followed by coaches. His favorite horse was there packed crowds, so,
you know, one one last big show for for this
lifelong performer. So that brings us to sort of the

(20:30):
side of the story. A lot of you have been
wondering about considering our subject, considering his race, considering the time.
He's obviously a talented performer, somebody was well liked. He
was a successful businessman when the circus was an incredibly
competitive business to be in. And it's easy to look

(20:51):
at his story just as um as not a racial
story at all exactly. I mean, it is sort of
your classic like rhymes to fame, and then it kind
of peters out after a while, an entertainer strikes out
on his own. I mean, the from the way we've
we've just told it clearly, the greatest hardships in his
life are ones that could befall anyone business troubles, a

(21:16):
freak accident. Those have nothing to do with his race.
They're just the dangerous that befall anybody going out in
the world and doing the things he did. Yeah, and
and that is actually the opinion of Turner, who he
mentioned earlier Funk's most thorough researcher, the guy who's who
studied him most thoroughly. Um. He wrote of his subject quote,

(21:38):
it was possible for a black man to be born
and live his entire life in Victorian England without apparently
encountering the sort of racism modern readers expect um. That expectation,
I guess is that he never would have been able
to do what he did without tremendous um, without having

(21:59):
to overcome a lot of like discriminatory Yeah, but it
just was not the same, for example, as what was
going on in the United States at the time, and
even in many other countries well and even his own country,
as as we're going to see with other performers of
different genres. But he occupied this unique, completely unique I

(22:24):
think he's like the only guy who managed to operate
in this space too um fulfill all his potential. Well,
he struck out in an area where there weren't really
rules about who could and couldn't do that, So it
wasn't like he was breaking any societal laws. There was

(22:44):
nothing taboo to him stepping into that role. And it
has just never been done before. And and we have
a quote that speaks to that too, which is so
surprising for the time it was spoken. Um. It was
from the chaplain of the Showman's Guild, and Uh, after
Pablo's death, this man noted quote in the Great Brotherhood
of the Equestrian world. There is no color line, for

(23:07):
although Pablo was of African extraction, he speedily made his
way to the top of his profession. The camaraderie of
the ring has but one test ability. So this is
from the eighteen seventies. It's pretty cool. It's very cool
that there could be this little sub world where where

(23:31):
ability was the trump to all other considerations when you
were dealing with a person. We can't really assume, though,
that this man experience no sailed through uh, you know,
having to deal with the fact that he was different
from the majority. The clearest account we can get of that, though,
is from his friend Wallet the Clown, who wrote about

(23:54):
a visit they took to Oxford where a student blackened
his face imitating Pablo. Um. But it doesn't seem I'm
sure there were many incidents like that, and probably things
even nastier than that that he experienced, but it didn't
seem to define his career, and it didn't. Most importantly,
it didn't seem to stop him from So that's pretty

(24:18):
surprising when you just take a quick look at the
state of most Black Britain's in the Victorian era, and um,
I've read lots of accounts of of African Americans in
this time and there's so much, Um, there's so many
cultural items produced from that time to art and books,

(24:40):
and and that African Americans were producing themselves philosophical works, novels, plays, poetry.
Um that when you take a look at Great Britain
at the same period, you might expect it would be uh,
even greater than that, since there's not slavery to contend with,
more opportunities for a lot of people. But according to

(25:05):
Osborne's article, even though Great Britain's black population really boomed
in the eighteenth century, by the Victorian era, they were
pretty much invisible in cultural life, which is so bizarre
to try to piece that together in your head. How
you think of the abolitionist moves, like they just kind

(25:26):
of vanished from the page for a little while. It
is so bizarre. But when you start thinking about your
own impressions of the Victorian era, you realize, oh, yes,
you know, nobody comes to mind. Um, And that hadn't
always been the case too. I think that's an important
thing to note too. It's not just like this was
the tradition of how black people in Britain were presented

(25:50):
in cultural life. Henry the Seventh and Henry the eighth
had employed black trumpeter in their courts. Elizabeth the First
had an African page an entertainer in her court. Um.
So fairly high profile positions for a person, any person
at the time. And then um, black characters were frequently

(26:13):
represented on stage, although as a side note here, they
were not played by black people, um. And they were
usually presented in a villainous black more sort of way,
one that Shakespeare said on its head with with othello,
I suppose. Um. By the nineteenth century there were a

(26:35):
few high profile black figures and entertainment though, um, but
not very many, which is why Pablo stands out so much.
He's one of a very small crowd. And I think
too because his his skill set was so unique and
he was so respected. It really just he's kind of

(26:55):
the shining star of that era. When you look at
the black community of artists in Britain, and he's really
the shining British star because probably the only the only
figures that were equal to him in fame were actually
Americans who had moved to England um to escape well

(27:16):
for the earlier ones Um a country where slavery was
still in place, Um, but just have more opportunities to
Ira Aldrich, who was a figure I'd like to learn
more about. He moved to Great Britain in eighteen four,
and he was a really successful theater actor and started
off with parts that Um might potentially be played by.

(27:41):
So he replaced the white actors that were appearing in
black face. So he played Othello for instance, he played
or Noco. He performed in plays that featured a black character,
like The Revenge, the Slave, the Padlock, plays that we
don't see anymore, just those conjured recognition, Revenge, the Castle Specter,

(28:06):
that one Castle Specter, Yeah, I'm curious about that one.
He ran out of parts though, pretty soon, and ultimately
became the first black man to play white roles in Shakespeare.
He played Macbeth and Hamlet and King Lear. Just pretty impressive,
very impressive, and he was for any actor, for any actor,

(28:29):
certainly Um and you know, I noted earlier how remarkable
it was that Pablo was well received in London because Aldrich,
even though he ultimately became internationally famous as a Shakespearean actor,
still couldn't get a good review in London because of
his race. Um. He was followed by a few other,

(28:52):
ironically again American actors, American Shakespearean black actor Samuel Morgan, Smith,
Paul Molino, Hewlett. Hewlett was instantly the last black man
to play the part of Othello on a West End
stage until ns. Yeah, that's a cool little bit of trivia.

(29:14):
So I think it was right around the turn of
the century, and then there's a thirty year stretch where
they go back to white guys playing Othello. Um, so
one step forward, two steps by just I mean, learning
a little bit more about the state of black entertainment

(29:36):
in um Victorian England. Was really even that phrase? I mean,
I think a lot of people haven't put those words
together very often. It's not something that comes up in
history books. It's certainly not even something that comes up
in historical films that I can think of. Uh, it's
a unique sphere of culture to study. I think it's

(29:56):
good to know it's there. And and to know that
there was more than minstrel shows, more than um, white
actors performing in black face. Um, that there were these few,
at least high profile black stars of the day. Um.

(30:16):
And just on the creation side too, I mean we're
talking about performers. Um. According to Osborne, there is no
evidence of any drama being penned or devised by black
people in Britain until the twentieth century, which, again going
back to what I was saying about all of the
nineteenth century American works, I mean, such a huge movement

(30:40):
in literature. Yeah, it's that is very strange. It's shocking,
so hopefully all I mean, it's almost suspicious, it is
that is I mean, really nothing was going on, aren't
you sure? But where where the storians are not funny
able to dig anything out? Where was everyone? How could
a race of people be so invisible? Um? Yeah, for

(31:04):
so long? But I guess it does further emphasize the
impressiveness of Pablo's fame and acceptance during this Yeah, he
really seemed to transcend any such issues. And Um, um,
like the odd mystery of not a lot of creative
things happening in the black community. Yeah, he managed to

(31:28):
rise through all of that and really be a public figure,
which is pretty cool. It is so he was fun
to learn about. I'm glad I stumbled upon him well.
And there are so many like connections to his story
that are also potential rich avenues of exploration. Oh my gosh,
so many circus history, circus history and again al Dritch too.

(31:50):
He seems like a really interesting figure. And um, just
in general too from topics we've covered in the past,
African American subjects who have moved during the nineteenth century.
I think the Crafts one of my favorite episodes. Ellen
and William Kraft. They escaped slavery. They ended up in

(32:10):
England for a time because they could have safe life there,
um which they could not as runaways even in in
the Northern States, there was a risk of recapture. It
makes me wonder now, I always just sort of assumed
these people went off to England and they're strolling arm
in arm with abolitionists at the Great Exhibition. What uh

(32:33):
what for Black Britain's during that time. So something to
explore later, I spose, Pablo, thank you for your awesome story. Okay,
so we're gonna do a little non traditional listener mail today,
but one of my favorite segments because we don't do

(32:55):
these very often because we kind of have to collect
them for a while if they're really going to be fun.
It's our old segment I listen Wow, And we promised
we would be delivering this pretty soon. Um. Just we
hear so many neat things that listeners do while they're
also taken in the podcast, we thought we would share
some of them, so I'm gonna kick it off. Holly Okay.

(33:18):
Willie from San Jose listens while building robots. A lot
of these are really cool. Uh. Naya listens while feeding
her parents Shetland sheep. Awesome. I love that. I love
the image of her just strolling through listening to history. Um.
Liz listens while driving, so a lot of you do that.

(33:38):
But she goes on to say that at one point
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realize that a police officer was behind her, and she
wound up with a speeding ticket. Sorry Liz, whoop. See. Uh.
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I love her already rolling out dough portioning cookie. He's

(34:00):
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(34:20):
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That's very cool. Those are twenty very happy recipients. I

(34:41):
bet Brandy Anne listens while she runs so often. She
says that whenever I hear your intro music, I now
have an uncontrollable Pavlovian desire to run. I think I
might understand that completely. I've bedn't share that one on
on Facebook at one point because I love um. This
is another one movie we should make friends. Listener. Valerie

(35:04):
listens in Austin, Texas, where she works at a local bakery.
She says she bakes hundreds of breakfast pastries, including croissants, danishes,
and cinnamon rolls, along with a bit of bread. While
she listens cinnamon roll, I had to clean up the
drool before I go home. That sounds so good. Glenn
is a professional hand quilter and listens while creating tiny

(35:24):
stitching over yards of fabric because he makes sandwich quilts.
My hand is off to him. I have done that
and it's extremely time consuming and takes a very special
person work to It's very impressive. Um, this one is
is episode specific. She was listening to our blood Work
interview with Holly Tucker and this is Kate from Australia.

(35:45):
She listened to that episode while she was waiting to
give blood. I think I would have chickened out if
I was listening to that episode. I mean to fill
you in, Holly. It's about uh lamb's blood being transfused
to a boy. Things like that, just stuff gets you
on the mood for blood donation. Oh my goodness. Joe

(36:05):
and Philadelphia listens while volunteering at the local Animal care
and Control shelter. Another person after my heart. He transports
animals to safe rescues throughout the Reason region and listens
to podcast while he's driving cats, dogs or even birds, turtles,
hamsters and squirrels to new facilities and homes. I love
that so much. That one is so sweet and love
it crazy animal lady, So I love it great. We

(36:27):
have a transport group fan and we also have a listener, Paul,
who listens while training bumblebees to forage on artificial flowers
in the lamb. He says, I shall look forward to
more install installments as well my queen and her workers.
I love it. Hopefully we'll keep the Queen happy and
they will be very productive little busy bees. Well, they
would have loved this episode because of Philip Astley's wife

(36:51):
writing yea, now they have circus aspirations. Mrs Queen Bee
of Paul, get ready for your queen to come to
you with a requests that she would like to get
into the show business. A little needs an e quest
and companion. So thank you, um and thanks to folks

(37:12):
to who listen while you're entering work into an excelled
document and driving. We appreciate you too. But it's always
fun to hear from some of the folks doing surprising,
unique activities and they have unique jobs. Yeah, so if
you want to pass on any of those to us,
also suggestions for other topics, um, all sorts of things.

(37:35):
We are at History Podcast at Discovery dot com. We're
also on Twitter and missed in History, and we are
on Facebook. We have some circus content too, don't we.
We have a bunch. If you go to our website
and type in the word circus in the search bar,
we have a whole section on circus arts, including how
a human cannonball works. We have quizzes about circus behaviors
where it's well, yeah, we have virable. We have a

(37:58):
lot of cool stuff. Uh. If you like circuses, you'll
be busy for a while. Uh. And if you want
to research anything else your mind can conjure, you can
also do that at our website. And that website is
how stuff works dot com. For more on this and
thousands of other topics, is it how staff works dot com.