range of circus skills, and performed at the theatre and in Cottle's touring show Turbo Circus. Personal life He married Betty Fossett, youngest daughter of circus showman Jim Fossett, in 1968. The couple had three daughters and a son. In the 1980s he became addicted to cocaine and was jailed. His daughters set up Cottle Sisters Circus. He was separated from Betty and had another partner, Anna Carter of Carters Steam Fair. They had also separated. Cottle was the guest for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on 15 September 1984. His choices included the "Radetzky March" by Johann Strauss Sr., and Help! by the Beatles. His favourite was "American Pie" by Don McLean. Death Cottle died in hospital in Bath, Somerset, in January 2021, aged 75, after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. References External links Wookey Hole Caves "Confessions of a Showman: My Life in the Circus" by Gerry Cottle with Helen Batten at Goodreads "Gerry Cottle, circus showman, dies of coronavirus at 75" - obituary at The Daily Telegraph 1945 births 2021 deaths Circus owners Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England People educated at Rutlish School People from Carshalton