The Stage

Jacko Fossett

Published Monday 28 June 2004 at 17:00 by Don Stacey

One of the most popular circus performers in the country, Jacko Fossett died suddenly at his home in Skegness on June 1 aged 81.

Born Robert George John Francis Fossett but always known as Jack, he was from the long-established circus family of Fossett and his childhood days were spent with Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus and with Chapman’s Circus. With his sisters Louise, Margaret and Emmie, he appeared in a trapeze act at the Blackpool Tower Circus before the Second World War and worked in variety before enlisting in the Royal Air Force.

During the war, he appeared in troop shows arranged by Ralph Reader, alongside stars like Don Saunders, Dick Emery, Peter Sellers, Harry Dawson and Cardew Robinson, his best friend of the time being the comic Tony Hancock.

After the war, he returned to variety and then joined the Robert Brothers Circus as principal clown, staying with them for some 14 years before going on to a star-studded career with circuses like Chipperfields, Billy Smart, Bertram Mills, Belle Vue in Manchester and with the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome from 1973 to 1978 and again in 1982. Abroad he was featured in the finest circuses in Denmark, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Puerto Rico and Australia.

Clown Charlie Cairoli was always his idol and after Cairoli’s unrivalled 39 years at the Blackpool Tower, it was Fossett’s greatest wish to appear there in his place. He got his wish in 1990 as a member of Peter Jay’s Circus company but it proved his swansong when he sustained a heart attack during a show mid-season and was forced to retire.

He married Constance Reid in 1960, one of the famous Reid Twins whose acrobatic dance and tumbling act had been a music hall favourite for 25 years. They remained together for nearly 44 years, Connie also assisting him in his clown acts. Fossett, Connie and her twin Marjorie all settled in Skegness and lived there for a number of years.

In 1978 he received a special award at a Clown Festival in Blankenberge, Belgium and appeared before the Royal Family at Olympia, London with Bertram Mills Circus, and before Prince Rainier and the Monaco Royal Family at Monte Carlo in 1983. In 2000, Fossett received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the circus industry’s journal, The World’s Fair, and, in 2003, a similar award from The Circus Friends’ Association of Great Britain.