Dame Laura Knight, R.A., R.W.S. (1877-1970)

Knight's interest in circuses began with her childhood memories of the Nottingham Goose Fair. In the early 1930s she undertook a regional tour of the Midlands with Carno's Circus. She was soon taken on as their official artist on a salary of two and sixpence a week. She lodged with the clown Joe Bert and his wife Ally who became her lifelong friends and the subjects of her 1962 memoir A Proper Circus Omie.