Dates

• Existence: Born 1944

Biography

John Exton was born in Lincoln in 1944 and has remained resident in the area all of his life.

After leaving school he served an electrical engineering apprenticeship with one of the then many large engineering companies in the area and then moved to Ruston Gas Turbines now Siemens in Lincoln who were world renowned for their products which were used for power generation and oil field applications. Remaining with the company for many years and following an extensive period of world travel commissioning their products he moved into engineering inspection work in the insurance industry where he remained until retirement.

John first fell in love with the circus at about five years old when his parents took him to see a circus appearing on the South Common in Lincoln, which was and still is the traditional circus and fairground site in the city. This would have been when the “Big Three” circuses of the era, Bertram Mills, Billy Smarts and Chipperfield’s visited the city on a three-year cycle.

During these 'golden years' of British circus, John convinced his parents to take him to the circus each year.

The teenage years provide other interests and attractions, but the love of circus never went away and when just married and visiting a circus in a nearby town an advertisement for the Circus Friends Association (CFA)caught his eye and resulted in John and wife Hazel joining in c1968 and they have been members ever since for over fifty three years now.

John joined the CFA Council in 1972 and remains an active member having held most of the Council Officer posts during this time including Chairman of Council for a long period from 1985 and President from 1991 to 1993. With other prominent CFA members, he was involved with the annual CFA Circus Awards, which sought to recognise high achievements of both circus proprietors and artistes. Later he was instrumental in liaising with the Circus Proprietors Association of GB to create the CFA/ACP Privilege Card scheme, which continues to this day and gives CFA members the opportunity to enjoy significant benefits when visiting ACP member shows. He was also instrumental in getting first the CFA Library Collection and then the CFA Circus Archives transferred to the care of the National Fairground and Circus Archive (NFCA) at which time he took a seat on the NFCA advisory board at the time the National Fairground Archive was renamed The National Fairground and Circus Archive. He continues to promote and advocate for the NFCA and leads on the acquisition of new circus archive and library collections for the CFA Collection.

John has made may good friend among the circus community and has used his photographic skill to help both circus artistes and proprietors over the years and for many years now his wife Hazel has joined him on the CFA Council acting as CFA Secretary.