Head of Fossetts Circus family dies in Dublin

Mr Teddy Fossett, head of the circus family, has died in Dublin at the age of 70

Mr Teddy Fossett, head of the circus family, has died in Dublin at the age of 70. He was born in Augher, Co Tyrone, in 1928 while the circus was on tour. Mr Fossett's father was English and came to Ireland with a dog act. He was also a ventriloquist, a sharp-shooter and a mind-reader. The circus that bears his name was founded in 1914.

Mr Fossett told The Irish Times in an interview some years ago that his father did not always use the Fossett name - he believed that changing the name was good for business.

He recalled that the circus was in Derry when the second World War broke out. His father had just renamed it as Heckenberg's Berlin Tower Super Circus. The locals stoned their vans.

"We headed for the Free State, overnighted in Swanlinbar and changed the whole circus, name and all, so that by the next day we were Fossetts again".

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At the time it was run out of Derry, Fossetts was the biggest circus in the country, with its own lions, an elephant and sea lions. The circus had 100 horses.

Teddy Fossett learned how to train horses by observing his father. He also trained himself to be an electrician because the circus could not afford to employ one.

Mr Fossett campaigned to have the circus given the same status as other art forms, particularly in its treatment for tax.

He was proud that throughout the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Fossetts never stopped touring there. "We don't know any boundaries or borders", he said. "Politics and religion do not enter into our business. To us the job is to entertain all classes and creeds."