Tears Of A Clown,

was I think a song, but Valerik Kashkin, a real clown is now shedding them as yet again health and safety have clamped down on his act - well shoes actually - whilst he did have a minor accident he was quite content to let the show go on, but, yes you guessed it! health and safty had said he must stop wearing his clown shoes, in his routine, Mr Kashkin - who has been described as a Buster Keaton-type performer - dresses himself first while walking on a wire, then within a hoop of fire, and plays a drum-kit, trumpet and double-bass all at the same time, the 40-year-old, from Temruk, in Russia, said: 'The shoes are an important part of my costume, and I was disappointed to be told I couldn't do this part of my act, it is very important for me to have the boots on because in my black costume I don't look like a normal clown, now I've got to do the balancing act in normal-sized shoes and it just won't be the same.' Paul Archer, general manager for the circus, agreed, saying: 'I think it will definitely detract from the visual aspect of the performance, 'It's very important because there's a language barrier to the whole performance, as it's in Russian, plus these clowns don't look like the usual clowns we think of - they have minimal face paint and aren't as garish, so it's important for them to wear the shoes, another victory for health and safety gone mad!