The hall was before me like a gigantic shell, packed with thousands and thousands of people. Even the arena was densely crowded. More than 5,600 tickets had been sold.
Cyril Bertram Mills started his circus career accompanying his father to European horse fairs in the 1920s. The two of them were soon familiar faces on the German circus scene, travelling between shows to recruit acts for London. The Munich Circus was a particular draw; but sometimes they hired out their circular wooden building to other local acts. The opening quote of this review comes from Adolf Hitler. Mills was at first dismissive of the Munich Nazi party leader, pointing out that hippos, monkeys and pigs ‘also received enthusiastic receptions in the same circus arena’. But the fact that Hitler was even on his radar, combined with the cover provided by his circus business, gave Mills a head start on intelligence gathering when the Nazis began to gain power.
The circus industry and the secret world of intelligence may appear to have little in common. As Christopher Andrew points out, one courts the spotlight while the other aims to avoid it. Yet it was circus work that enabled Mills to operate hidden in plain sight as he flew his de Havilland Hornet Moth between acts across Germany, at the same time gaining valuable aerial intelligence on the country’s illicit rearmament. The circus also gave Mills useful transferable skills. It trained him to keep his nerve, manage unusual characters and risks, and effectively deceive others by creating fantasies – the last a habit he kept up until his eighties.
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