80-year-old circus legend still clowning around
Monday, January 10, 2011
By Marie-Laure Michel, AFP
THE HAGUE -- At 80, the world's oldest clown has given up tightrope walking, but Oleg Popov, the most famous Soviet-era jester, still tours half of the year and has no plans to hang up his trademark red nose. “The Sun Clown,” as he is also known, never fails to enthral young and old with his oddball character based on a figure from Russian folklore — one who appears stupid but really isn't.
As the drums rolled under the traveling big top of the Great Russian State Circus, the ringmaster heralds “the one, the only, the unique Oleg Popov!”
To loud applause, a small man with a shock of straw-colored hair under a black-and-white checkered cap shuffles into the ring — just as he has done for six decades.
READ MORE: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2011/01/10/286967/80-year-old-circus.htm
THE HAGUE -- At 80, the world's oldest clown has given up tightrope walking, but Oleg Popov, the most famous Soviet-era jester, still tours half of the year and has no plans to hang up his trademark red nose. “The Sun Clown,” as he is also known, never fails to enthral young and old with his oddball character based on a figure from Russian folklore — one who appears stupid but really isn't.
As the drums rolled under the traveling big top of the Great Russian State Circus, the ringmaster heralds “the one, the only, the unique Oleg Popov!”
To loud applause, a small man with a shock of straw-colored hair under a black-and-white checkered cap shuffles into the ring — just as he has done for six decades.
READ MORE: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2011/01/10/286967/80-year-old-circus.htm