If you've ever fantasized about running away and joining the circus, you know the allure of a traveling troupe. Meet a man who has been under its spell for over 60 years.

Circuses have been around in one form or another for thousands of years, their acts and skills handed down from generation to generation. But it took an Englishman named Philip Astley to create the circus as we know it. When Astley opened an amphitheater in London in 1768 to present his amazing "feats of horsemanship" it was an overnight success. After a few years he added a platform, seats and a roof to his ring and brought in musicians, a clown, jugglers, tumblers, tightrope walkers, and dancing dogs to keep the public coming back for more.

And now in Las Vegas, another Englishman is one of the leading lights of circus. Brian Dewhurst, who was recently named British Circus Personality of the Year, was born into a circus family in Manchester and left school when he was 13 to begin performing.

At 16, Brian completed the first-ever back handspring on a tightrope and although he gave up wire walking in his mid-60s, his career is still going strong at the age of 75: These days he's a clown, gleefully disrupting audiences and tormenting the ringmaster at Cirque du Soleil's Mystère at Treasure Island.

Recalling his early years on the road, Brian said, "It was a very enjoyable life. A free life. I traveled with my family to Africa, Sweden, all over Europe meeting lots of other artists from all over the world." Among the artists Brian met later were Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix, the founders of Cirque du Soleil. They were exploring new ways to interpret the traditional circus and when Brian's daughter Sally saw an early Cirque show, she wrote to Gilles to tell him what her father was up to, which was very much like Cirque du Soleil only on a smaller scale.