E H Bostock's travelling menagerie and circus was a regular visitor to Glasgow in the latter years of the 19th century. In 1897 a permanent site, previously the New Olympia Theatre, was acquired in New City Road for what became known as the Scottish Zoo and Variety Circus. This 1899 circus programme featured acrobats, clowns and animal acts as well as a water pantomime.
The circus closed in 1902 but reopened as the Scottish Zoo and Glasgow Hippodrome. Bostock, known as "Scotland's Barnum", settled in Glasgow and became a councillor and a justice of the peace.
Reference: Mitchell Library, Theatre Collection, G 792 MUS
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries and Archives
Keywords:
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