Career
The pair were regular performers at the Belle Vue Christmas Circus until Merchant"s retirement in 1979. Sydney the boxing kangaroo was another of Jacko"s regular partners, although there were in fact eight different animals over the years. Described by circus historian J. M. Turner as "probably the last of the traditional British clowns", Jacko died suddenly on 1 June 2004, at the age of 81.
