Dick Chipperfield
Died at the age of 83 in 1988 - began performing as a clown at the family's fairground variety show when he was just five.
Jimmy, Dick's younger brother, also took part in the show as a clown, a wire-walker and an acrobat.
It was in the early 1930s that the Chipperfields started to become well established in the traditional circus business and by the end of World War II the show had become one of the largest touring circuses in Europe.
During the late 1940s, the RAF Wethersfield base was used as a winter camping ground for the Circus. Elephants were housed in the maintenance hangars and Nissen (Quonset) huts, formerly used as offices, became homes for lions, tigers, snakes and monkeys. Jimmy Chipperfield fought as a fighter pilot.
By 1953, Chipperfield's Circus ousted rivals Bertram Mills and Billy Smart and boasted a big-top tent which could accommodate 6,000 people. It had a collection of 200 horses, 16 elephants and 200 other animals.
During the Second World War, from 1941 I think, my father Richard Sandow (and circus family) formed a most successful partnership with Richard Chipperfield (and family) and toured a very large circus, with wild animals, during those years. see: Circus Historical Society - History - Tom Sandow 14 April 2008.
Read more about this topic: Chipperfield's Circus
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