My parents were performers, but I think my mother hoped I would avoid that insecure profession and use my intelligence to go to university and get a 'proper job'.

Sadly I let her down in that hope, as the draw to performing (and working for myself) proved too strong.

I began as a street performer (back in the days when that was an outlaw way of making a living, not the professional choice it is now) and that led to other perfoming opportunities, as well as teaching and promoting circus skills for their mental and physical benefits, particularly to non-academic children.