Dee Hill spent over three years travelling and living with a whole array of circuses - everyone from the Jim Rose Circus (pictured) to the burlesque Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. Freaks &Fire is her definitive chronicle of modern sideshows.

*Who was the most remarkable performer you met on your travels?

It's hard to say. My jaw dropped open the first time I saw Jennifer Miller, the director of Circus Amok. She's a petite Jewish woman and social activist with a naturally full beard. When I first saw her onstage she was juggling axes and ranting about health-care reform at the same time.