Human cannonball claims circus sacked him for fear of flying

LONDON - He is accustomed to hurtling through the air at 96km/h in a daily death-defying act as a human cannonball. But circus stuntman Todd Christian was without a job yesterday because of his fear of flying.

Christian, 26, said he fell out with his employers, Cottle & Austen circus, when they tried to send him to a special training camp in Brazil after he injured himself several times during the act.

"I know it sounds silly because I'm a human cannonball, but I don't like long flights and if I'm on a plane for a long time I start to panic," he said.

"The circus wanted to send me to have further training at the Guiana space centre in Brazil because they were worried I would hurt myself again. But I refused to go and they sacked me on the spot."

Christian, a former lion trainer and trapeze artist, had worked for the internationally famous circus for two months before running into trouble with management, which has a strict safety regime.

Each day, he would climb into a specially constructed cannon to be shot 12m into the air above the audience, propelled by190psi of air pressure - putting strain on his joints and muscles.

But a series of injuries, and a belief by his trainer that he was not in shape, prompted the circus to call for further training.

Yesterday, Marnie Dock, the circus's expert cannon trainer, denied Christian had been sacked for fear of flying but, rather, because he was not up to the job.

"Todd simply wasn't fit enough," said Dock, who became the world's first female cannonball at the age of 16.

"When we took him on he didn't tell us about previous injuries and several times over the last couple of months we have had to drop the act ... because he had injured his knee.

"He was supposed to go to the gym every day but he didn't and when he refused to go on a training course in Brazil, we had no choice but to replace him."

As the person who pushes the button to fire the cannon, she didn't want to be taking risks with someone who was a liability. "We did it for his own safety, so he doesn't get seriously injured or killed. He's a great guy and we offered him another job but he refused."

Christian, who comes from a circus family and has been performing since the age of 4, was adamant he wanted to keep his job.

He said he had asked his lawyer to look into launching a legal claim for unfair dismissal.

Now he has been fired, the centre-stage role has been taken over by South American superman Diego Zeman, known as Diego the Human Rocket.

Unlike Christian, Zeman, from Brazil, received the specialist space training that helps him deal with the G-force of being fired through the air.

"I feel sorry for Todd but being a human cannonball is what I have always dreamed of doing and I'm very happy," he said.

- INDEPENDENT