Billy Smart's Circus (c1946 - 2006)
Biography
Billly Smart's Circus was established by William 'Billy' Smart (1894-1966). Billy came from a fairground family from London with an interest in horses and circuses. In 1946 Billy came across Cody's Circus and bought the big top.
Billy Smart's New World Circus made its debut at Southall Park, Middlesex, on 5 April 1946, for the first full season after the end of the war. Initially, Billy run his circus in conjunction with his fun fair, which was being run by his children, but by 1952 the fun fair, which was overshadowed by the circus, disappeared. The success of the circus side of the business however continued to increase and in 1955, Billy Smart's Circus grew from its two-pole tentto a 6,000 seat, four-pole round big top with a hippodrome track around the ring, and a vast entrance tent, thus enabling the staging of spectacular parades, which became a Billy Smart's Circus trademark.
Billy's greatest innovation, however, was his relationship with the newly established television networks when he agreed to broadcast his circus live on the BBC in 1947. Over the years, Billy Smart's Christmas Spectacular became a BBC holiday tradition, which ITV took over in 1979 and carried on until 1982. The BBC's first-ever colour broadcast was a 'Tribute to Billy Smart', while Royal Performances took place in London, raising thousands of pounds for charity.
A large part of the success of the circus was the showmanship that Billy brought to the operation of the circus, the large family he could draw upon to run the shows and his ability as a showman to market and capture opportunities to advertise. Whilst other circus proprietors were threatened by the rise in popularity of television and shunned the cameras, Billy Smart embraced them. Smart's Circus grew to be one of the largest in the world, touring every part of the British Isles, and with permanent quarters and an associated zoo at Winkfield, Berkshire, not far from where Smart began his fairground career. His success took the circus through twenty-six tenting tours, winter seasons, frequent TV appearances and the provision of animal acts to other circuses.
Billy died in his caravan on 25 September 1966 and the circus passed onto his sons Ronnie, David and Billy Jr. who continued travelling Billy Smart's New World Circus until around 1971.
In the 1990s Ronnie and his sons Gary and Lord revived the Smart Circus and started to tour a smaller scale version of the original circus. However, the Smart Circus was never the same after the dead of Billy and soon after, the Smart name was rented out to other circus operators until it stopped operating in the early 2000s.
Found in 1051 Collections and/or Records:
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 16 November - 5 December 1953
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 16 November - 5 December 1953
Birmigham, Greyhound Stadium car park. Colour illustration of chimpanzees sat around a table drinking tea and eating cake, wearing bibs with their names on. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 24 - 29 May 1954
Edinburgh, Murray Fields. Colour illustration of polar bears on steps above brown bears and animal trainer on the right hand side. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 16 November - 5 December 1953
Birmingham, Greyhound stadium car park. Colour illustration of elephant wearing a police hat and riding a motorbyke on a stripey blue and green background with yellow circles containing text around them.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 16 - 18 July 1953
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 30 March - 11 April 1951
Nottingham Goose Fair site. The Sensational Puhlmanns aeroplane aerialist, over 150 animals. Colour illustration of acrobatic aerial act showing a woman hanging by the feet and a man hunging by the mouth from an aeroplane. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 24 - 29 May 1954
Edinburgh, Murray Fields. Colour illustration of chimpanzees in stripey clothes on bycicle and swinging bar on top section and elephant parade on bottom section on a green a yellow background. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, c1946 - 1999
Edinburgh, Murray Fields, 24-29 May. See our 10 famous baby elephants walk from the station to the circus ground. Red and blue type on white background with blue border.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, 16 November - 5 December 1953
Birmingham, Greyhound Stadium, car park. Red and blue type on white background with red border. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd, Nesfield Printing Works, Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Poster, c1900 - 2019
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Programme, 1956
Colour illustration of laughing clown's face on a blue background and type on bottom section on a yellow background on front cover, inside introduction, black and white photographs of patrons, owners, performers and acts with text and programme in the centre, 12p.p.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Programme, 1955
Colour illustration of man in blue jacket riding a white horse out of a grey square and holding a gun up in the air, also a clown and a man in a coat inside the box, green and blue type on red and yellow background on front cover, inside introduction, black and white photographs of patrons, owners, performers and acts with text and programme in the centre, also commercial advertising on last page, 11p.p.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Programme, c1954
Colour illustration of elephant riding a tricycle wearing a police hat on a green a blue stripey background on the front cover, inside introduction, black and white photographs of patrons, owners, performers and acts with text and programme in the centre, also commercial advertising on last page, 12p.p.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Programme, c1954
Colour illustration of elephant riding a tricycle wearing a police hat on a green a blue stripey background on the front cover, inside introduction, black and white photographs of patrons, owners, performers and acts with text and programme in the centre, also commercial advertising on last page, 12p.p.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Programme, 1954
Colour illustration of elephant riding a tricycle wearing a police hat on a green a blue stripey background on the front cover, inside introduction, black and white photographs of patrons, owners, performers and acts with text and programme in the centre, also commercial advertising on last page, contains two sets of covers, 14p.p.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Menagerie Programme, 1952
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Zoo Poster, 1955
Tagora the human volcano, over 200 animals. Colour illustration of bare chested man wearing a turbant, spitting fire on the bottom right and his face on centre left on a blue, red and orange background, also yellow and red and white, black and yellow type. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Zoo Poster, 3 - 8 September 1956
Preston, Queens Road site. Great Western spectacle featuring Davy Crockett. Colour illustration of wild west act in circus ring with man in traditional costume holding a riffle stood on the left hand side.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Zoo Poster, 3 - 4 June 1955
Cheltenham, Sandford Park. Colour illustration of wild animals running on grass including elephants, lions, bears, polar bears, camels, llamas and cebras in a circle on the centre of the poster. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.
Billy Smart's New World Circus and Zoo Poster, 20 December 1954 - 22 January 1955
Birmingham, Bingley Hall. Colour illustration of wild animals running on grass including elephants, lions, bears, polar bears, camels, llamas and cebras in a circle on the centre of the poster. Printed by W. E. Berry Ltd Bradford.