Fairground Attractions
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 10:17 pm
As youngsters, my brother and I used to spend summer school holidays with an aunt and uncle at Andover in Hampshire. Each year, as part of the carnival week, there would be a travelling fair. We used to visit each evening mainly to watch as funds were limited.
One of the attractions was Pat McGowan’s Boxing Booth. The resident boxer, had a withered leg and fought fought under the unimaginative name of “Harry the Leg”. He was prepared to take on any challengers, who if successful would win a prize.
We managed to get in for free in return for doing some chores. I cleared up the rubbish and rearranged the chairs after each match and my brother had to wash the gum shields between rounds.
Another source of interest was the freak show. The showman , between Hank Williams records, invited people to see such delights as Leo the Lion Man, The Pig Faced Boy and The Bearded Lady. Also Pat and Joan, the Siamese Twins who we were told had come straight from the State Fair, Philadelphia, U,S.A. They were not post cards, stuffed dummies or waxworks and £100 would be given to any charitable institution if they were being misrepresented in any way.
By the last night of the week curiosity got the better of us and we stomped up 3 pence each to go in.
Leo the Lion Man, The Pig Faced Boy and the Bearded Lady were embalmed human heads in glass display cases.
The pieces de resistance, Pat and Joan the Siamese Twins, were in a separately screened off area. They turned out to be stillborn conjoined babies suspended in a glass tank of alcohol.
As Kenny Everett would say, all done in the best possible taste.
Does any of this conjure up Fairground memories to anyone else?
One of the attractions was Pat McGowan’s Boxing Booth. The resident boxer, had a withered leg and fought fought under the unimaginative name of “Harry the Leg”. He was prepared to take on any challengers, who if successful would win a prize.
We managed to get in for free in return for doing some chores. I cleared up the rubbish and rearranged the chairs after each match and my brother had to wash the gum shields between rounds.
Another source of interest was the freak show. The showman , between Hank Williams records, invited people to see such delights as Leo the Lion Man, The Pig Faced Boy and The Bearded Lady. Also Pat and Joan, the Siamese Twins who we were told had come straight from the State Fair, Philadelphia, U,S.A. They were not post cards, stuffed dummies or waxworks and £100 would be given to any charitable institution if they were being misrepresented in any way.
By the last night of the week curiosity got the better of us and we stomped up 3 pence each to go in.
Leo the Lion Man, The Pig Faced Boy and the Bearded Lady were embalmed human heads in glass display cases.
The pieces de resistance, Pat and Joan the Siamese Twins, were in a separately screened off area. They turned out to be stillborn conjoined babies suspended in a glass tank of alcohol.
As Kenny Everett would say, all done in the best possible taste.
Does any of this conjure up Fairground memories to anyone else?