03192cam a22003373u 4500 76741 UtSlPG 20260610134757.0 m cr n 260607r20251922utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d 81202170 UtSlPG en iso639-1 PN Walker, Whimsical, 1851-1934 From sawdust to Windsor Castle Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-08-27 deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) From sawdust to Windsor Castle by Whimsical Walker is a memoir written in the early 20th century. It charts the life of a British clown and circus–pantomime performer from a harsh childhood and fairground apprenticeships through international circus circuits to big‑top fame and command performances. Expect bustling backstage anecdotes, animal‑training exploits, and a front‑row view of popular entertainment from the circus ring to Drury Lane. The opening of this memoir follows Walker from a stepmother’s beatings in Hull to running away at nine and hustling for work in fairs and booths—tumbling, touting for a photographer, and posing as a “living head.” He drifts through early pantomime at Whitby and a first taste of London before real training under circus proprietor Pablo Fanque, who makes him a clown and drills him in horses, vaulting, and discipline. A string of itinerant engagements brings pratfalls and peril—stage collapses, a botched double somersault, a slack‑rope scare, a lion‑tamer’s death, and endless practical jokes—alongside abortive stabs at “serious” acting at Astley’s and in mumming booths. We see provincial circuits, rough lodging‑house comedy, and brushes with notoriety, from meeting the executioner Marwood to a farcical day in court. He then sails to America, survives a brutal storm and a spilled jar of whisky, plays New York during the blowing up of Hell Gate, and meets culture clashes that make clowning risky, before trekking by caravan across the prairies with Native guides. After side trips to Java and Australia and witnessing a New York “spiritualist” swindle, he joins Barnum and Bailey, bonds with a newborn elephant, and is dispatched under sealed orders to secure the famed “Jumbo.” This opening section closes with the uproar over Jumbo’s sale, legal wrangles, a canny publicity delay, and the eventual shipment and celebrated American arrival of the beloved beast. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: London: Stanley Paul & Co., 1922 Walker, Whimsical, 1851-1934 Comedians -- Great Britain -- Biography https://archive.org/details/fromsawdusttowin00walkiala https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76741 117466 117466