The name ‘The Manchester Company of Extreme Largeness' was dreamt up by me in 1998 as the name for a market stall I started with two friends, Carl and Helen. We took the stall to various festivals including Glastonbury, WOMAD and Leeds. At the end of the season I parted company with Carl and Helen to do other things (we are still great friends though!)

For the next few years I used the name ‘The Manchester Company of Extreme Largeness' for my birthday party invites. And fantastic parties they were!

The Manchester Company of Extreme Largeness as a Fire Stunt Spectacular came about after seeing Lucky Rich Diamond and Skate Naked at Glastonbury in 2002. I really wanted to do some kind of show but didn't really know what to do when I suddenly realised that I could actually do fairly simple tricks and stunts and just add fire to make it dangerous and exciting!

At the time I was working for Manchester City Council in the housing benefit department. I was a bit of a model employee, never sick, never late, hard working and very smartly dressed. To say they were surprised when I told them I was leaving to basically run away with circus would be a bit of an understatement!

So, I set about building my ramps and other bits and pieces and I bought my gyroscope and had it galvanized so I could set it on fire without ruining the paintwork. As I was doing this I got back in touch with Carey, who had introduced me to gyroscopes a couple of years previously and she invited me to her wedding – to Will, who helps to manage the circus fields at Glastonbury! While I was at the wedding I got to talk to Arabella Churchill, who books the acts for the circus and theatre fields at Glastonbury and she very kindly gave me my first gig!

That first gig was a bit of a shambles but the audience cheered and laughed in all the right places so I must have been doing something right!

Since then I have been doing shows all over the country, and I have been developing the show and introducing new material to make it what it is today.