page_title: Philip Astley
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Philip Astley / Biography / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: "Astley’s Amphitheatre" colored plate from Microcosm of London, 1808. *57-1633, Houghton Library, Harvard University
context_page_description: Philip Astley was an English equestrian, circus owner, and inventor, regarded as being the "father of the modern circus". Modern circus, as an integrated entertainment experience that includes music, domesticated animals, acrobats, and clowns, traces its heritage to Astley's Amphitheatre, a riding school that Astley founded in London following the success of trick-riding displays given by him and his wife Patty Jones in 1768. Astley's first competitor was equestrian Charles Hughes, who had previously worked with Astley. Together with Charles Dibdin, a famous author of pantomimes, Hughes opened a rival amphitheatre in London, which Dibdin called the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy.
  Astley and his wife put on the first circus show on Easter Monday, 4 April 1768. Extending the equestrian performance with exhibitions of warlike sabre-work and sword-play. The initial performances were done in the open air at Ha'penny Hatch, a field in Lambeth, London, near the present site of Waterloo railway station. The Astleys also performed at other locations in London. Astley performed his stunts in a circular arena, though Astley never used the title of 'circus' for his shows.
context_section_description: Astley's Amphitheatre is mentioned in the popular fiction of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and William Makepeace Thackeray, among others. In Jane Austen's Emma, in chapter 54: "He delivered these papers to John, at his chambers, and was asked by him to join their party the same evening to Astley's. They were going to take the two eldest boys to Astley's." It is also a motif of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
  Astley's fame is also marked by the existence of three dance tunes which bear his name: "Astley's Ride(s)", "Astley's Flag" and more common, "Astley's Hornpipe". "Astley's Ride" appears as the first song in the music manuscript book of poet John Clare.
  Astley's circus is featured prominently in Tracy Chevalier's novel Burning Bright.
  31 May 1982 saw illusionist Fred Van Buren stage the first celebration of Philip Astley in the form of Newcastle-under-Lyme's annual carnival, which had the theme of Philip Astley's Circus. This event began the journey to bring Astley back into the public's awareness.
  Then in 1992 the British magician illusionist Andrew Van Buren commissioned a life-size statue to be made of Philip Astley to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Astley's birth. Van Buren is the Astley expert and curator of the Philip Astley Project, creating and uniting archives, exhibitions and a series of events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of circus in 2018 and beyond.
caption: Astley's Amphitheatre in London circa 1808.
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