New blue plaque pays tribute to 'Clown of Bognor Regis'

Affectionately known as the Bognor Clown, Frank Bale was a staple of Bognor Regis seafront for almost two decades in the early twentieth century – and has now been honoured with a blue plaque, unveiled in the place he performed nearly 100 years ago.

Born into a family of performers known as the Royal Zanettos, Bale spent his formative years touring the US and Europe alongside his brothers, Bale moved to Bognor as early as 1907, and became most famous for performing alongside animals. He trained a monkey to ride a bicycle and drive a mini car, and performed regularly alongside his beloved dog Towzer, who he trained to balance by the forepaws on the palm of his hand.

Frank’s plaque is one of several in the Bognor Regis area, commemorating figures – like novelist James Joyce and ‘Mermaid of Bognor’ Mary Wheatland – of both local and national import. For Ken Blamires of the Bognor Regis Heritage Partnership, acknowledging the town’s rich history is as important as investing in its bright future.

"He was well known all over Europe and the US," he said. “And what he did here was typical seaside entertainment. And that’s such a big part of the heritage of any seaside town.”

Ken was one of a handful of people who made Frank’s plaque a possibility, but said it simply couldn’t have happened without the hard work and research of Karen Nesbitt, Frank’s great granddaughter, who he met at last year’s Puppet Party.

For Karen, who has been researching her family history for several years, seeing the blue plaque in-situ was nothing short of an honour. “It’s absolutely brilliant,” she said. “I didn’t know Frank because he died in 1942, and I was born in 1954, but two important people in my life were his two daughters – and that’s my grandma and my great aunt. And they both helped bring me up alongside my parents, they were in my life for a long time.

"And this is just a wonderful way of bringing him back to us almost, bringing him back to his family – and it’s the result of an awful lot of research over the last 20 years.”