“Clowns are not made, they are born” - EDP reporter becomes a clown for the day

Reporter Joe Randlesome joins in the fun and games at the UK Clown Convention (Image: Archant)

Andy the Clown, who has organised the debut event, kindly lent me one of his prized costumes to wear. He had told me earlier in the week that 'clowns are not made, they are born'.

I thought about this line and whether I was born to write, and then decided that I agree with Andy and that I was probably born a clown.

Sitting in the dressing room of The Seagull Theatre with top performers from around the county, I felt part of the excitement and enthusiasm.

I was sat next to Arthur Pedlar, a clown who is a member of the International Hall of Fame. Born in 1932, he has performed his act across the world.

Reporter Joe Randlesome joins in the fun and games at the UK Clown Convention (Image: Archant)

As I stepped into my over-sized trousers, I asked Arthur what it was like for him to still be performing now.

'I can do less and less now on my unicycle but if you have greasepaint in your veins you can't get rid of it,' he told me.

With the hope that this wasn't literally true, and with help from EDP photographer Mick Howes, I put on the top part of my costume and realised that my height might be a particularly uncomfortable feature. As the room began to fill up, applying make-up and getting into character was clearly second nature for the performers.

With my outfit on, and having tried out some juggling and horn hooting, I spoke with Gingernutt who tried to teach me some simple clown jokes.

Listening to him describe a small stick as 'Inspector Twig from the Special Branch' made me feel confident that I was well on the way to achieving my own name in lights.

Slightly concerned that my beard didn't fit the look and my hair might fall out of place, I put on a colourful hat and sat down to be made up by clown Simon Thompson.

Firstly he applied some pink colour before adding in the white around my eyes. I was then daubed with talcum powder to make sure the paint stuck to my face. Looking around at the other clowns doing similar things, I didn't feel out of place, in fact it pleased them to see me getting involved.

Jonathan the Jester said that when he first saw himself in costume, it was his 'reflection in a shop window'.

I settled for a mirror close to the stage door, having stuck on my nose with some glue and borrowed some oversized shoes from Salvo.

To be honest, mine weren't far off the same size and style.

We all posed for some pictures and although I only made a brief appearance, in that time, it was an honour to share the stage with a wide array of top quality performers.