This Day in History: First modern circus is born

On 9 January 1768, the first modern circus is staged in London by Englishman Philip Astley.
 A former cavalry sergeant major, Astley found that if he galloped in a tight circle, centrifugal force allowed him to perform seemingly impossible feats on a horse’s back. He drew up a ring and on January 9, 1768, invited the public to see him wave his sword in the air while he rode with one foot on the saddle and one on the horse’s head. Having much success with this act, Astley soon hired other equestrians, a clown, and musicians and in 1770 built a roof over his ring and called the structure Astley’s Amphitheatre.
Two years later Astley went to Versailles to perform his “daring feats of horsemanship” before King Louis XV, and he found France ripe for a permanent show of its own, which he founded in 1782. Also in 1782, a competitor in London set up shop just down the road from Astley’s Amphitheatre, calling his show the “Royal Circus,” after the Roman name for the circular theaters where chariot races were held.
Trick riders, acrobats, clowns, trained animals included, in the 19th century, the term “circus” was adopted as a generic name for this new form of entertainment. Astley, who lived until 1814, eventually established 18 other circuses in cities across Europe.
Canada’s Cirque du Soleil, which gave an artistic sensibility to its acrobatic acts while shunning the use of animals, was an innovative circus development of the late 20th century.