"The 250-year history of circus would have been very different if a man from Newcastle-under-Lyme had got on better with his father, and been happy to become an apprentice cabinet maker. ... Philip Astley ... in 1768 drew a 13 metre (42ft) diameter ring on the ground and filled it with men and women standing […]
SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:04AM on April 4, 2018