Knutsford juggler brings Moscow State Circus home
Paul Archer left his Cheshire home at the age of 16 determined to make his name as a circus performer.
Mr Archer and two friends bought the UK rights for the circus earlier in 2011from: www.bbc.co.uk
20 September 2011
Thirty-three years later, he has returned to Knutsford with a circus career behind him and as director of one of the world's most famous troupes, the Moscow State Circus.
It has been a long and varied journey for Mr Archer, but he says it started as a child on parkland in his former home town.
"The first time I ever saw a circus was on the Knutsford Heath when I was about six years old.
"It was sheer excitement, I'd discovered the circus.
"I was captured by the complete spectacle of it and the magic; the fact that it appeared overnight, held performances and then was gone again, with just a bit of sawdust on the ground in memory of it."
That spectacle enthralled him to such an extent that he decided that when he grew up, he would join a circus.
It has been a long and varied journey for Mr Archer, but he says it started as a child on parkland in his former home town.
"The first time I ever saw a circus was on the Knutsford Heath when I was about six years old.
"It was sheer excitement, I'd discovered the circus.
"I was captured by the complete spectacle of it and the magic; the fact that it appeared overnight, held performances and then was gone again, with just a bit of sawdust on the ground in memory of it."
That spectacle enthralled him to such an extent that he decided that when he grew up, he would join a circus.
Mr Archer performed all over the UK and abroad as a circus jugglerBedroom practice He says he soon started to teach himself to juggle, a talent which would go on to help him secure his place in the ring."I was fascinated by all aspects of the circus, but something I could take up readily was juggling.
"I picked up some juggling balls and started practising in my bedroom.
"Juggling became four, five hours a day, with my mother looking on in shock and horror that I was going to spend a lot of time doing this."
By his 16th birthday, he was proficient, but he says what really allowed him to become a top class performer was a chance meeting in Weston-super-Mare."I bumped into a juggler at a bus stop, who was also a historian of juggling.
"He had old cut-outs of some very famous jugglers - he showed me them all and then gave them to me.
"It was mind-boggling, the things I saw, and that inspired me to greater things."
read more at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14987322
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