I met Andrew Van Buren, master illusionist and pre-eminent plate spinner, at last year's Enjoy Staffordshire tourism awards ceremony at Alton Towers.
As well as entertaining guests by showing how to make 'Made in Stoke-on-Trent' china defy gravity, he was keen to talk to me about Philip Astley.
Who is Philip Astley you might well ask? A recent survey of 2,800 people revealed that around 90 per cent of those consulted were also unaware of the man regarded as the father of the modern circus....
