author
Frank Charles Bostock
1866–1912
A daring showman of the animal-entertainment world, he helped turn the old traveling menagerie into a huge international attraction. Known in America as “The Animal King,” he built a reputation on spectacle, publicity, and fearless work with wild animals.
1 Audiobook
The Training of Wild Animals
by Frank Charles Bostock
About the author
Born in Darlington, County Durham, on September 10, 1866, Francis Charles Bostock came from the famous Bostock and Wombwell menagerie family and entered the trade while still young. He became an animal trainer and entrepreneur, carrying the family business into a new era of mass entertainment.
In 1893 he went to the United States and began building a larger international career. His shows toured widely in Europe and America, and he became especially well known for exhibitions of trained wild animals; in the United States he was popularly called “The Animal King.” Contemporary accounts and archive summaries describe him as a major figure in popular entertainment at the turn of the century.
Bostock died in 1912, but his name remained closely tied to the age of the traveling menagerie and early animal spectacle. Today he is remembered less as a conventional author than as a vivid historical personality whose life reflects the show business culture of his time.