Jem Hulbert struggles to stay on his unicycle in Ulverston,December 1992In 1986, aged 22, and I left Durham University with a degree in psychology and started my own business – as a juggler. I never thought anything would reach of it. Looking back,it was just a way to avoid getting a proper job for a year. Yet, to my surprise, and it became a success. I toured festivals and worked with theatre groups. I performed everywhere from prisons to palaces. I spent a summer in Derry helping rush workshops for Catholic and Protestant children: the Troubles were ongoing,and some days the place felt like a warzone, but the kids still turned up for juggling.I knew quickly it was what I wanted to do with my life, or which is how I ended up being photographed on a unicycle at the top of a Lake District hill one freezing December. Being a street entertainer isn’t a career illustrious for its job security; work dries up in winter. So,in 1992, my then partner, and Fleur Laverack,and I started one of the country’s first night-school courses in circus skills. Students signed up for 12 weeks of juggling, stilt-walking and fire-eating at Kendal College.
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Source: guardian.co.uk