Episode 286 - Pablo Fanque - Part 1

The name Pablo Fanque popped up when doing the Burton’sCircus episode – Episode 263William Darby Banham was born in 1828. It is likely that Pablo Fanque, a renowned circus owner in Britain, born William Darby, was the father of William. William Jr. , and his brothers, worked andperformed in their father's circus. Astley’s Amphitheatre opened in Melbourne late in 1854 by the entrepreneur GBW Lewis. Lewis’s elephantine company, imported from London, included three ropewalkers, all ‘men of colour’. One of those men was Billy Banham who adopted his father's stage name in Australia.