Malcolm Airey was an enthusiast and collector of books and ephemera who undertook a substantial amount of research on circuses. He was a member of the Circus Friends Association of Great Britain (CFA) during the 1970s until the mid-1980s and held the posts of Secretary and Librarian. During that time, he helped restore the CFA library. He published a number of articles including the history of the Chapman Circuses from 1930, which was the first, full-scale, in-depth study to be published in King Pole and set the standard for subsequent articles.

His real interest was the speciality acts in circus and variety and the history of variety theatre on which he also undertook considerable research. This is reflected in his book collection which contains many biographies of variety entertainers and other volumes on the different types of music hall and acts.

Malcolm Airey spent a large amount of time researching the circus and collected many programmes and other ephemera from the 1950s onwards from the UK, Ireland, East Germany and the former Soviet Union.

The notes that he took over his years of research were intended to compile a book upon his retirement. However, Malcolm died before his project could be realised while still in his 60s.

See obituary by David Harris in King Pole, No 118