Main content
Cirque du Soleil
The ground-breaking circus was formed by a group of street performers in Quebec in 1984.
The global circus phenomenon Cirque du Soleil was born in 1984 when a group of street performers in Quebec bought a big top tent and went on tour.
Lucy Burns speaks to Cirque du Soleil co-founder Gilles Ste-Croix, who walked 56 miles on stilts to raise money for the show.
Picture: Cirque du Soleil acrobats perform during the dress rehearsal of Kooza at the Royal Albert Hall in January 2013 in London, England. (John Phillips/UK Press via Getty Images)
Last on
Fri 15 Dec 202321:15GMT
BBC Radio 4 Extra
Broadcasts
- Boxing Day 201908:50GMTBBC World Service
- Boxing Day 201912:50GMTBBC World Service
- Boxing Day 201913:50GMTBBC World Service News Internet
- Boxing Day 201916:50GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Boxing Day 201918:50GMTBBC World Service except Australasia, East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa
- Boxing Day 201921:50GMTBBC World Service South Asia
- Boxing Day 201923:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Fri 27 Dec 201903:50GMTBBC World Service UK DAB/Freeview & Online only
- Fri 27 Dec 201904:50GMTBBC World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, South Asia & East Asia only
- Tue 31 Aug 202110:45GMTBBC Radio 4 Extra
- Tue 31 Aug 202120:45GMTBBC Radio 4 Extra
- Sat 4 Sep 202112:45GMTBBC Radio 4 Extra
- Sun 5 Sep 202100:45GMTBBC Radio 4 Extra
- Tue 20 Dec 202221:50GMTBBC Radio 4 Extra
- Fri 15 Dec 202321:15GMTBBC Radio 4 Extra
Podcast
![]()
Witness History
The story of our times, told by the people who were there

