How were a pioneering black circus owner and some of his colleages immortalised thanks to something found in a shop in Sevenoaks?

bigsouthern

They were immortalised in The Beatles' song "Benefit For Mr. Kite", based on a circus poster found by a Beatles' intern {?} in a Sevenoaks antique shop. Jun 03 07, 7:56 PM

sequoianoir

The circus was Pablo Fanque's Royal Circus "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a 1967 song from The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band composed primarily by John Lennon with input from Paul McCartney. Lennon wrote the song taking inspiration from a nineteenth century circus poster which he purchased in an antique shop in January or February of 1967, while filming the promotional video for the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" in Kent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_for_the_Benefit_of_Mr._Kite! The Real Pablo Fanque Pablo Fanque, Mr. Kite and the Hendersons were never more than colorful names to John, but records show that 150 years ago, they were real stars in the circus world. Mr. Kite was William Kite, son of circus proprietor James Kite, and an all-round performer. He is believed to have worked in Pablo Fanque's Circus from 1843 to 1845. Pablo Fanque was a multi-talented performer who became the first black circus proprietor in Britain. His real name was William Darby and he was born in Norwich in 1796. He started calling himself Pablo Fanque in the 1830's. The Hendersons were wire-walker, equestrian, tramplinist and clown John Henderson and his wife Agnes, the daughter of circus owner Henry Hengler. The Hendersons travelled all over Europe and Russia during the 1840's and 1850's. The 'somersets' which Mr. Henderson performed on 'solid ground' were somersaults, 'garters' were were banners held between two people and a 'trampoline' in those days was a wooden springboard rather than stretched canvas. http://www.beatlesagain.com/bkite.html Jun 03 07, 8:00 PM

gmackematix

A yay for the benefit of Mr Bark. Our paths cross again at last! Welcome back. Of course Lennon insisted he wasn't as high as Mr Kite when he wrote it... Jun 03 07, 8:31 PM

Baloo55th

There used to be a pub in Liverpool called Hengler's Circus. I've never found out why. Mind you, in a city with pubs called The Flat House and The Old Paraffin Store, and the (now departed) Foot Hospital you can expect almost anything. (These are not names like the Slug & Lettuce ones, designed to sound cute.) Jun 04 07, 2:24 AM