Joseph Grimaldi or Iron Legs (December 18, 1779 - May 31, 1837), the most celebrated of English clowns, was born in London, the son of an Italian actor. December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining. ... | Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001... A clown today is one of various types of comedic performers, on stage, television, in the circus and rodeo. ... This article is about the British city. ...

When less than two years old he was brought upon the stage at Drury Lane; at the age of three he began to appear at Sadler's Wells; and he did not finally retire until 1828. As the clown of pantomime he was considered without an equal, his greatest success being in Mother Goose, at Covent Garden (1806 and often revived). Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. ... The London Coliseum, home of the English National Opera The English National Opera (ENO) is Londons second opera company, after the Royal Opera at Covent Garden. ... The Christmas Pantomime colour lithograph bookcover, 1890 Pantomime Pablo Zibes In Great Britain, Australia and Ireland, pantomime (informally, panto) refers to a theatrical genre, usually performed around the Christmas and New Year holiday season. ... A page from a late 17th century handwritten and illustrated version of Charles Perraults Contes de ma mère lOye (Mother Goose Tales) depicting Puss in Boots. ... Covent Garden is a district in central London and within the easterly bounds of the City of Westminster. ...

His father was Italian and his performance was reminiscent of Commedia dell’ Arte. He is widely hailed as the founding father of modern clowns, the pantomime. He performed often at Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Some people have claimed that Grimaldi himself was the inspiration for Frankenstein’s monster. Book covers for Frankenstein have taken many forms over the years which emphasize different themes of the novel such as gothic horror, science fiction and romanticism. ...

His Memoirs in two volumes (1838) were edited by Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens was a prolific writer who was almost always working on a new installment for a story and rarely missed a deadline. ...

The famous 'sad clown' anecdote was first told of Grimaldi (later also told of Grock): A young man goes to see his doctor. He is overcome by a terrible sadness and doesn't think anything will make him feel better. The doctor says "Why not do something happy, like going to see Grimaldi the clown?". The young man answers "Ah, but doctor," with a knowing look "I am Grimaldi." Grock (January 10, 1880, Reconvilier, Switzerland - July 14, 1959, Imperia (City), Italy), original name Karl (Charles) Adrien Wettach, was a Swiss circus clown whose blunders with the piano and the violin became proverbial. ...

To this day every year on the first Sunday in February a memorial service is held for Grimaldi at All Saints' Church, Haggerston, Hackney, North-East London - the home of the Clowns' Gallery. For this service hundreds of clowns flock from all over the world in full 'garb' and the service is followed by a show for the children. Haggerston is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ... Hackney is the principal area of the London Borough of Hackney in East London. ... This article is about the British city. ...

The original editions of the book of Grimaldi's memoirs are very hard to find, either in antiquarian bookshops or even Online. But there are two digital / P.O.D. versions now available. Self-publisher John Haines ( Josh Rogan ) has made available a scanned copy of an 1846 edition, and a full-text version of the 1853 Routledge 'Cheap New Series' edition. The former has its own charm as it is entirely made up of scanned pages and the stained, darkened pages of such an old book evoke the era, but this takes up to an hour to download, whereas the latter is a full-text EBook, which downloads quickly. Both have the illustrations and revisions.

Joey Grimaldi is also an amazing guitarist in Scarsdale, NY.

External links

• Joey
• Clowns' Service information

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.