My brush with the Big Top
Why Gazette Editor David Tanner will be first in the queue for
tickets when the circus comes to town
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| • DAVID Tanner, centre, with circus owners Katherine
and Kenny Darnell. |
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| • CIRCUS brothers Patrick, Leigh and Kenny Darnell. |
IT all happened a long time ago, but the memories have come rushing
back with the visit to Barnstaple this week of Arnett and Paulo’s
Circus.
My innocent visit to the Big Top 22 years ago, resulted, indirectly,
in a clown being jailed for a night, a wedding and the continuation
of a circus family dynasty.
It all started when we took our two little girls plus our next door
neighbour’s daughter, Katherine Fordham, then 16, to Paulo’s
Circus in Honiton in 1984.
At half-time, the clown came round selling draw tickets and, at
the end of the performance, he came to me and asked if he could
take Katherine for a drink.
Reluctantly, I agreed, for we were meant to be keeping an eye on
Katherine while her parents were on holiday.
But I insisted they were back at the Big Top by 10pm, which they
were. I drove Katherine home and thought no more about it.
The next day, the evening paper in Exeter was full of a police search
for a long wheel-based Land Rover reportedly involved in an armed
robbery in North Devon.
I drove home to Feniton that night — and parked right next
to a Land Rover of the same description.
Naturally, I called the police, who were certain it was the vehicle
they were looking for — until my next door neighbour’s
front door opened and out stepped Kenny the Clown — he had
been having tea with Katherine — and asked: “What’s
the matter with my grandad’s Land Rover?”
Poor Kenny was immediately arrested and spent the night in the cells
at Honiton police station because his grandfather could not immediately
put his hands on the vehicle’s log book.
Needless to say, it was not the vehicle the police were looking
for and, to cut a long story short, the next time the circus came
to Honiton, Kenny the Clown — surname Darnell — and Katherine
were married in Feniton Parish Church and held their reception in
the Big Top.
Today, 20 years on, they have three sons and own a circus of their
own.
They started Arnett and Paulo’s Circus in 2000 and all three
sons are involved in the show.
Kenny Junior, aged 19, does a trapeze act with his wife, Teodora,
17-year-old Leigh makes appearances in several guises every night,
and Patrick, aged 13, is Mini Me, the clown.
When Kenny Junior’s wife gives birth next year, there will
be five generations of the circus family alive, four of them actively
involved in the show. Kenny Senior employs his mum and dad, his
brother and his sister.
Fortunately, Kenny Senior can laugh about his brush with the law
and Katherine has no regrets about marrying into the circus world.
“We often think about the way we met and my night in the cells,”
Kenny said. “But it has all turned out for the best.
“I was working in my grandad’s circus when we met, but
he retired and we went to work with other shows until we were able
to start our own circus six years ago.
Now Arnett and Paulo’s is one of the biggest touring circuses
in the country involving up to 50 people all told.
Moving what amounts to a medium-sized business to a new site every
few days is no small task, but Katherine and Kenny oversee the operation
many times a year.
Neither of them take any direct part in the show any more, but are
proud of the parts played by their sons, who show every intention
of carrying on the family tradition.
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