"I went to the circus when I was three-years-old, and fell in love with everything about it," says 20-year old Gareth, from Ramsbottom, who is better known today as Bippo the Clown. "When you walk into the big top as a kid and see all the lights and everyone smiling, it's so awe-inspiring. It's like going to Disneyland. My mum and dad thought, aww, tomorrow he'll want to be a fireman. But I stuck with it. I wanted to be a clown."
Every school holiday, Gareth insisted his parents take their caravan to the circus and stay the whole week.
Eventually, when he was 10, his dad was made redundant as a gas engineer, so he took a job with Zippo's circus as a handyman. Mum became the circus boss' secretary, so that Bippo could live his dream of growing up in the big top.
"They left their house to live with me in a caravan for nine months – and ended up staying for six years," says Bippo, who spent the rest of his childhood learning the tricks of clowning from the other performers.
Bippo's parents have long since returned to a normal house and normal jobs, but Gareth sees himself in the circus for life.
"It's not so much a business as a way of life," says Bippo, who is about to appear on the Fylde coast with one of the country's last, small traditional big top shows, Circus Mondao.
Bippo and Circus Mondao are also among the stars of Circus Mania, a colourful new book about life in the big top.
It's often a life of gruelling hard work behind the glamour.
"When we put the tent up and take it down, everyone has to help out," says Bippo. "If the wind gets up in the night, everyone has to get up to put more stakes in. We don't just leave it to the crew. All the performers pitch in, because we're all in this together and if we didn't have a tent we wouldn't be able to work."
Bippo's duties include connecting the water supply when the circus arrives in a new town. But he still finds time to relax, playing football with the other performers, riding the circus's stable of horses and playing on his PlayStation in the caravan that is his home.
"I think the travelling is one of the reasons people are in the circus," says Bippo, "You can see the world."
The circus is a British tradition founded by trick horse-rider Philip Astley in 1768. It's a world with its own customs, superstitions and secret language that Bippo is determined to keep alive.
"If you're having a private conversation and see someone coming over, you say, 'Nanti,' and it means be quiet or watch out," says Bippo
Clowns are called Joeys, after Joseph Grimaldi, the early 19th century father of modern clowning. Outsiders who join the circus were once called jossers or flatties.
"At some point I'd like to try TV," says Bippo. "But I think circus will always be my main focus. There are people doing this in their 70s and 80s. I think once the circus grabs you, it's in your blood."

*Circus Mondao is appearing at Fleetwood Road South from August 3 to 30. Box office: (07722) 791777.