Category: Culture

As a self-proclaimed expert on traveling showmen (it’s in the genes and researchers at the BBC agree anyway), I have always been amused at the use of The Greatest Show on Earth being now assigned to the Olympic Games. True it is a big show, but is it really like the traveling circus that comes to town puts down a foot print and then leaves town again not to be seen for at least another year? Well yes it is and as the traditional traveling circus has declined over the second half of the twentieth century, that mantle had definitely transferred to the Olympics with its expensive and brash, desirable global appeal.
There are numerous similarities between the Olympics and a good old fashioned traveling circus or menagerie from the nineteenth century, the hey days of traveling shows, and some of the parallels you are bound to consider controversial.
When a traveling menagerie went on the road they would send agents to the prospective town to promote the show, sell tickets, clear things with the local authorities, etc. The Olympics are the same with their bid processes, forward selling of tickets and so on.
Each show had its stars like the Lion Kings and Queens. London2012 had its Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis, king and queen in their own right.
Once the circus or menagerie ‘hit’ town they laid on a street parade showing off all the performers and animals in the show. London2012 had its torch relay and opening ceremonies. Need I say more?
As well as the performers the circus had its ring master and its clown too. London2012 had Lord Coe and Boris Johnson respectively! (although I’m more in favour of  Eddie Izzard as its clown. At least he makes me laugh, Boris just makes me cringe). Ring masters do very little in reality so its quite a good analogy I think. They just have to be in the right place at the right time. However, when they change their clothes to become the tight rope walker then the audience sit up and take notice at their bravado. Whether Lord Coe would ever get that far out of his comfort zone is still an open question.
So there are many similarities and it is not really surprising given how cultural Britain has developed over the last three hundred years or so. Where once we had lion tamers we now have gold medal winning athletes like Bradley Wiggins pushing the boundaries in their own way.
From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century there was a rise in popularity of the novelty act which were generally given that task of shocking the audience into coming along and seeing for themselves what the handbills would often claim as the ‘only one in the world’, ‘brought up in the jungle’ and so forth. The freak show gained momentum through the nineteenth century with so-called ‘acts’ like The Elephant Man Chaffer’s Midget Revue, Lionel, the Lion Man and so on. By now you should know where this is going and you should be quite annoyed. The Olympics has its Paralympics when some less able bodied athletes push themselves to obtain that medal and the accompanying acclaim.
Now I’m not suggesting the Paralympians are freaks. Heavens no! What concerns me is the success they have had at London2012 now puts them in a vulnerable position. What might to some seem a good way to prove their worth and to be included, might just do the opposite given the draw Paralypians have had on the paying public. Performing to packed houses and crowded streets they innocently showed their worth.

What was the real draw that filled the Olympic stadium at Paralympic time? I hope it was the anticipation of witnessing some excellent athletics and other sporting action. I just wonder if it might turn out, especially in countries not as tolerant as the UK, to become another wave of nineteenth century fascination with disability. One bad sign is the use of the term Blade Runner to describe the South African athlete Oscar Pistorius. Why refer to him as such if it is not to promote his disability and not his prowess as an athlete? Time will tell.
That just leaves the wind down or the taking down of the big top when the time comes to leave town and go and seek fame and fortune elsewhere and so do it all again. Well Brazil is the Copyright the author 2012destination and they know what they have got to do. The big top comes down and by the next morning all that is left of the menagerie or circus is the flattened grass. As a kid I always liked the day after the local fair had left town. It was time to scan the ground for those lost coins that never made it into the hands of the showman. It was always quite lucrative and paid for many a jamboree bag!
What of the footprint left behind by the Olympic Games as it up sticks and leaves the host town to its own devices? Never fear for the Olympic organizers, they are already negotiating out of their huge coffers the next one and the ones after that. Their ‘agents’ are hard at work as I type, but what of the ‘flattened grass’ of London2012 though?
The challenge is to see that the legacy does not just end up with a few clever clogs like me searching the field for their equivalent of my ‘few coins’ and then moving on to the next venture. There are no glittering prizes for legacy though as all the Olympic Games hosts have found to their cost. London2012 WILL BE NO DIFFERENT is my best guess. Yes there will be bravado and jobs for some like Coe, already given the nod at the legacy company. The site(s) will decay over the years. The venues that are not pulled down for scrap will struggle for survival and so on. The canal walk will become yet anther drug dealers paradise. You may not agree with my pessimism and why should you. You expect everyone to pull together just like they did at games time. The party is over though, the crowd had disappeared and the circus has left town and London2012 is to be confined to history. Again time will tell if I am wrong or right.