Fleas on TV

The flea circus episode of 'David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities' is going to be aired on Watch TV on Monday (2nd Feb) at 9pm.

Watch is available on satellite and cable services

David Attenborough's Natural Curiousities

Svenson's Flea Circus have teamed up with Sir David Attenborough for his new series of "David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities".

The episode highlights jumping feats in the natural world. David wanted a real flea circus to feature so Svensons were brought in to harness and train the fleas for the programme.


The fleas were selected from candidates from the local vet, only about 1 in 10 were good enough to perform. Eric and son Sven harnessed the fleas using a traditional technique of a wire neck collar.


"We do it all by hand without the use of ice, ether, or any other cheat" said Eric. Sven does it by eye but Eric does use a magnifying glass. They don't use tweezers as those tend to harm the fleas.

The fleas were hooked up to chariots, either singly or in pairs and performed well for the cameras.


The program will be on the 'Watch' channel very late this year or early in 2015 (Sky channel 109, Virgin 124), "David Attenboroughs Natural Curiosities - Series 3"

Svenson's Flea Circus

Fleas die in the cold

Many thanks to everyone who's sent me the link the story about the poor fleas who died in the cold weather in Germany. The weather in Mechernich-Kommern has been dropping to -3°C over night and despite having the protection of a styrofoam container the 300 fleas died. Robert Birk the flea circus director who performs at the Oktober Fest managed to retrieve more fleas from the University of Dusseldorf and hence the show at the Faire of Yester-year Freilichtmuseum in Mechernich-Kommern could go on.

The flea circus library is investigating to ensure such disasters do not happen again.

Heinrich Künstler - Nürenberg

Last week I was chatting on the emails with Janus Clausen, Curator of the Cirkusmuseet in Denmark. He advised me of a new name for flea circus history, "German Mecanicus called Heinrich Künstler from Sachsen". I quickly found in google books the following newspaper article.

Nurnberger Zeitung 121 from Montag 1 Mai 1843


Transalation thanks to Justin

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With authoritarian permission

Heinrich Kuenstler from Saxony arrived here on his journey with a unique curiosity that has never been seen before.

He'll be in town for a few days to present it to a honorable audience for their viewing pleasure in the "Guesthouse under Moonshine" in the Gostenhof, No. 11, one stairway up.

You'll see:

An extraordinary cabinet that consists of 160 trained fleas.

Among many shows these will also be performed:

1.) An English touring car pulled by 6 fleas.

2.) A Russian chaise pulled by 2 fleas.

3.) Two fleas pulling a barrel.

4.) One flea pulling an Italian chaise.

5.) A flea fires a cannon as a cannoneer at last. Additionally it is shown that the fleas are lying in silver chains.

The cost of entry is 12 fr., children pay half.

The fleas can be seen daily from 10-12 before noon and 2-7 in the afternoon.

If somebody doesn't find everything as advertised he'll get his entrance fee back.

3 day festival of circus in Israel

Next week sees a festival of circus in Israel. Modi'in near Jerusalem is host to three days of circus fun and entertainment.


Kirkas Minimax will be performing with tricks such as a high jump, tightrope and trebuchet.

Curious Pursuits

The flea chariot made it safely up to Manchester in time for the opening night of the Curious Pursuits exhibition by Porter and Jenkinson set in the delightful Portico Library and Gallery.





The exhibition runs till the end of February at The Portico Library & Gallery, 55 Mosley St, Manchester, Greater Manchester M2 3HY, UK

Photos by Keith Clark

Bertolotto rival in Kassel

From the "The Bavarian People's Friend,Volume 17, 1840" and "La Fame" - Journal of science, literature, arts,. industry and theaters 1840.

Bertolotto, the flea tamer has found a rival in Kassel. Hr. Fiarenzi from Genoa announced, that he had trained "ants", taught them to march in rank and file, to climb scaling ladders and conquer a fortress, which was built of sugar; also, they were, on word of command’ able to retreat before the heat of a fire, while saving oats, crumbs of bread and small cut off pieces of cheese, with the result that they looked, in this way, like people who salvaged their belongings "under their arms" from the fire;

People still say that the present century had produced no great men: Bertolotto and Fiarenzi eclipse the finest intellects of all time.



Translation assistance from Google and from JohnThePotter