FOR many children, running away with the circus is just a dream.

But for 12-year-old Gareth Ellis, better known as Bippo, circus life is his life.

Bippo is the protg of Zippo - the clowning owner of Zippos Circus, which tours all over the country.

Bippo says he has wanted to be a clown ever since he was taken to see Zippos as a three-year-old.

He says: "I was so thrilled with the circus. I told my mum what I wanted to do, but she said 'Yeah, yeah - tomorrow you'll want to be a fireman or a policeman'."

However, his parents soon got the message when he spent hours practising juggling, learning magic tricks and other clowning skills in his bedroom.

For birthdays and Christmas, he was given clown props and, when he was five, he received his first clown outfit.

Bippo says: "I can't say I'm a really outgoing person, but when you get your outfit on you are different. "I wanted to be a clown because I like getting laughs."

He entertained his family and friends with his antics and, as a six-year-old, won the Pontins Young Enter-tainer of the Year Award.

That year he became the youngest clown to register with Clowns International in the traditional style, with his make-up painted on an egg.

A year later, Bippo wrote to Zippo to ask if he could join his circus and, to his surprise, he said yes. Bippo stayed with the circus for two weeks with other budding performers during half-term. There he showed Zippo he had the makings of a good clown.

He got to know just what it is like to be a circus clown - learning from the profess-ionals like Zippo himself - getting to know his own clown character, practising tricks and routines.

He recalls: "I remember I had a white face with little stripes down it and a little jester's outfit. My hat kept falling off because it was too big and then I didn't have the right boots."

Performing in the ring in front of an audience gave Bippo a real buzz.

"It was excellent - I had such an adrenaline rush," he says. "The atmosphere just booms, which encourages you to do more."

Bippo's parents gave up their comfortable home in Ramsbottom, near Man-chester, and ran away with Bippo to travel with the circus so he could train full-time when he was 10.

Nevertheless, he has to wait until he is 16 before he is allowed to appear regularly in the ring.

Visitors to the circus can usually see him mingling around the audience, entertaining them with his antics and his spinning.

He says: "Most people think it is an easy job and you don't have to do school work, but I do. Whatever the school kids are doing, I do the same through distance learning."

Teachers from the National Association of Travelling Teachers are dispatched to give lessons wherever the circus takes Bippo and his mother gives him extra help.

"School work is okay- it's one to one. At school you get distracted by your friends in class, but when you are here you can't do anything wrong because the teachers are constantly watching you."

He doesn't entirely escape from school as members of the circus often go and talk about life in the big top.

Bippo says: "When I go to local schools, I have to get up at 8am and put on my make-up and outfit for 9am, to be at the school for 10am. We do a performance and tell them about Zippo's Circus and our way of life.

"In my spare time, I study the great comedians like Tommy Cooper and Lee Evans. Sometimes I practise with my mum and dad, doing jokes and seeing what facial expressions they like."

Bippo says travelling around the country, stopping at different places from one to four weeks, is hard work, but he enjoys it.

"It's a bit like a secondary school - you spend time at first figuring out where everything is, but with the circus you figure it out and then you move on.

"It is hectic, which is how I like it.

"The best part is seeing people smiling and going home happy."