A Chippenham schoolboy who once dreamed of life under the Big Top is returning to the town where he grew up, but this time there will be no school uniform, no homework and no school bell. Instead, Luke Austin will be arriving in Chippenham as one of the stars of his family’s travelling show – Luke the Clown, performing with his family’s historic Circus Ginnett.
For Luke, the return is particularly special. Before the bright lights, costumes and laughter of the Big Top, Chippenham was his home. He attended Redlands Primary School before going on to Hardenhuish School, growing up in the town while living with his mum.
Now, years later, he is coming back to perform in front of the people and places he remembers from his childhood. And there is something rather fitting about Luke’s chosen career. He has part of one Britain’s oldest circus dynasty’s Circus Ginnett dating back to early1800s.
Luke was featured in the episode 3 of the Channel 5 television documentary series “Circus Kids: Our Secret World”, when he was just 10 years old. The programme followed the lives of children growing up in Britain’s traditional travelling circuses and gave viewers a glimpse into Luke’s unusual childhood spent weekdays with his mum in Chippenham and weekends with his father touring the country under the circus Big Top. While circus life was always around him, Luke also experienced something many circus children don’t — growing up and going to school in a town community.
He attended Redlands Primary School and later Hardenhuish School here in Chippenham, living with his mum. At 16, however, Luke left school and made the decision to return to the family business full-time. Since then, he has thrown himself into circus life, learning the skills of the trade, travelling with his family and performing night after night under the Big Top.
Today, he is no longer the little boy viewers saw on television. He is now a professional circus performer and one of the show’s principal comedy acts, Luke the Clown.
His talents don’t stop at clowning. Luke has developed a range of circus and performance skills and has become particularly well known for playing the family’s extraordinary Boozaphone. The unusual instrument has even taken Luke beyond the circus ring and onto national television. In 2025, Luke was featured by BBC News in a story about the unusual musical instrument, demonstrating the Boozaphone and helping to introduce the bizarre but entertaining creation to a much wider audience and is now bringing him back to Chippenham.
For Luke’s dad Patrick, who runs Circus Ginnett along with his Cuban wife Lisandra, bringing the show to the town where his son went to school makes the visit particularly meaningful.
This is more than just another stop on the circus tour. It’s a special kind of homecoming for Luke.
Circus Ginnett itself has a remarkable history. The Ginnett name has been associated with circus and variety entertainment for more than 200 years, with each generation helping to keep the family tradition alive.
For Luke, though, the return to Chippenham isn’t about history books. It’s about coming back to the town where he grew up and performing for family and friends and people who may remember him as a schoolboy, showing them just how far that little boy has come.
Some of his former school friends may remember Luke simply as the boy from their class. Others may remember seeing him on television as a child. Now they have the chance to see what happened next. The boy who left Chippenham at 16 to join his family’s circus has grown into the man in the centre ring.
Luke the Clown is coming home.
And this time, Chippenham is his audience.
CIRCUS GINNETT COMES TO CHIPPENHAM
Monkton Park, Chippenham, SN15 3QF
Thursday 10th September – Sunday 13th September 2026
Show times:
- Thursday 6:30pm
- Friday 4:30pm and 7pm
- Saturday 2pm and 5pm
- Sunday 12:00pm
Information & Bookings:
