Dan Baker was born in 1889, and
in the 1920s and 1930s travelled the fairgrounds with an animal show
called at one time 'Dan Baker's Famous Freak Farm'. This included a
cow with six legs called Blossom, Tishy the smallest horse, Billy
the Bull with a bulldog face, Nancy the sheep with five legs and
Nigger the dog with three legs. He also had fairground rides and
stalls.
Dan Baker's daughter, Doris Wall,
was left with her grandparents when she was aged 11 and 12 so that
she could attend school regularly. Her father wrote to her at
roughly weekly intervals during school terms. She kept her father's
letters and allowed author Phyl Ralton to transcribe them. The
letters show the efforts made to keep in touch and the amount of
travelling done. The chart at the end of the book uses information
in the letters to sketch out Dan Baker's route.
Buy the Companion Book...
We Had So Much Pleasure: My
Life on the Fairground by Doris Wall £6.75 |
