Review of 'The First Showman'

The First Showman by Karl Shaw

This book is subtitled “The Extraordinary Mr Astley: The Englishman Who Invited the Modern Circus” and the author does a reasonably good job at convincing this is the case. Philip Astley was born in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire he grew to love horses and ended up serving as a sergeant-major in the British Army where he learned extensive horse-riding skills. Leaving the army he joined entertainment groups operating out of pubs in London before deciding to open his own on the south bank of the Thames. His charisma and strength of character pulled in the public as he began to feature more than just equestrian skills, branching out to include acts we now consider traditionally part of a circus including clowns, trapeze, music, drama, and balance acts as well as establishing the use of the “circus ring”. Astley's Amphitheatre would be a prominent fixture in London for more than a hundred years with Philip's son taking over duties as ringmaster then eventually falling into the hands of others.

What I found the most interesting was the description here of late 18th-century England and, specifically, London. The way people lived, how they entertained themselves and the politics of the age. Shaw has lots of little stories that put Astley's “circus” into context though, to be sure, Astley never called his show a “circus”, instead that term was first used by a competitor, Charles Dibdin when he and Charles Hughes opened their “Royal Circus” a stone's throw from Astley's arena. We also learn a lot about the unusual restrictions and licensing that faced the entertainment business at the time including what types of acts could be staged.

There is little actually known about Astley himself so much of this book concentrates on the circus part of his life and the impact he had on entertainment of the day. It is not afraid to talk also of his failures, of which there were a few including many fires that were common at the time, however it is also interesting to learn of his desire to bring his show to other markets including his permanent show in Paris and doing periodic tours with his company both in Britain and the United States where the “circus” was later picked up with great success by the likes of P.T. Barnum and the Ringling Brothers (interestingly there is a shot here by the author at the recent film The Greatest Showman talking about how nasty Barnum was, not the loveable character portrayed the film).

It took a while for me to get into this book as the start is fairly dry but it really hits it's stride when it starts talking about Astley's adventures in London. There are a lot of details here and it can often get overwhelming but it really does give you a sense of what the age must have been like if not a deeper understanding of Astley himself – Here the talk is about what he accomplished rather than what he thought or believed, which we will likely never know.

An interesting story of a man lost to history that deserves to be considered the father of the modern day circus, Philip Astley.

This book features a section of full-colour pictures as well as an extensive index and several appendices.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2026-01-31

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Amberley

Publication Date: 2019

ISBN: 9781445695495