Martin Burton, owner of Zippo's Circus, is ruminating on the popularity of circuses and is encouraged by its current status.

"People are rediscovering live entertainment I think.

"Circuses went through the doldrums during the 80s and things are cyclical so they are very popular again.

"When you see the horses in real life you're amazed by their power and their size, and if you are by the ringside when they run round, you can feel the floor shake, you can smell them."

"I've had more television enquiries in the last six months than in the last 30 years and we've done New Tricks for BBC1, which is a primetime show."

Circus seems to be spreading into other art forms - I went to a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last week and there were three circus acts, three Ariels which had come straight from the circus.

The multi award-winning spectacular (there are too many awards to mention) struts into town this week to rig up in Brockwell Park, as part of a six-week London-wide tour.

And there is no dip in the standards, which have seen Zippo's become the leading troupe in the country.

Henry, Prince of Clowns, isn't an especially inspired name but the Venezuelan is the star act.

Says Martin: "He's a very modern clown, he's a bit hip, a bit trendy. Teenage girls tend to idolise him - he doesn't wear the traditional make-up and he's funny too. A lot of clowns aren't laugh-out-loud funny, but Henry is.

"He does a marvellous restaurant entrée where the audience ends up throwing cold, soggy spaghetti at him." Check out our helpful glossary for the circus meaning of "entrée".

It is 35 years since Martin first donned a clown's outfit and he began Zippo's 22 years ago. It has since toured the UK and across India, Australia and America.

This year's theme is cowboys and Indians, so the horses, acrobats, trapeze artists, whip crackers and knife throwers will be costumed for the occasions.

Undoubtedly, the star of the show is Henry though, whose speciality is the highwire act which Martin describes as "the most dangerous act in circus", simply because there ain't no safety net.

"All you can do is hope they grab on to the wire," adds Martin, hopefully.

And with that I leave him to spend the day wrestling with licence regulators and health and safety red tapers, an altogether different type of clown.

  • Martin has kindly offered readers a special offer - free entry to the circus for any children dressed in cowboys and Indians fancy dress ages two to 14, and accompanied by a paying adult.

Zippo's Circus, Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, SE24 0PA, April 12-17. Visit zipposcircus.co.uk for times.