Astley's-field 1777

Astley's-field 1777, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. TEXT FOR EXTERIOR VIEW (Astley's field) Just wanting to have some good fun with everybody so don't jump on me too hard! Astley is credited with founding the modern circus in 1769 and here is his first building outside London in 1777—just an open oval arena space and still no formal ring approximating the scale familiar to us today. Neither Philip nor his son John ever used the term circus; it was applied by Philip's rivals Charles Hughes and Charles Dibdin to their Royal Circus of 1782. Astley, by the way, only exported the circus to France but it was Hughes who carried the new entertainment to many countries including Russia and Italy while Hughes's student Rickets brought it to the young US.