Circus boss Cottle rewards betrayed wife in £5.7m will
THE wife of Britain’s greatest showman, Gerry Cottle, once told him he was ‘not a proper husband’. Betty Cottle suffered decades of the circus impresario’s womanising and cocaine addiction before they separated in 2001. He later moved in with Anna Carter, of Carters Steam Fair. Now, however, there comes a dramatic apology from beyond the grave.
I can reveal that Betty has been named as a beneficiary in the will of Cottle, who died of Covid last January aged 75. And he left an astonishing £5.7 million gross estate despite having been declared bankrupt twice.
He was regularly forced to sell his assets, including elephants, baboons and lions, as well as circus paraphernalia. Betty will also be handed his share in a valuable painting by Edward Seago.
Newly published probate documents disclose that Cottle, who ran away from his middle-class Surrey home to join the circus when he was 15, left assets including Wookey Hole Caves, which he bought in 2003. The Somerset tourist attraction was so close to his heart that he named its night manager as a beneficiary.
Others to benefit include Cottle’s son, Gerry, and his three daughters, as well as his son-in-law Willie Ramsay, whom he wished to be ‘regarded the same as one of my descendants’. Ramsay trained Hollywood star Angelina Jolie for the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
It has not been made public how much each beneficiary will receive. Cottle specified: ‘In respect of financial sums that I would like to be paid to certain individuals, I express the wish that my trustees have regard to any letter of wishes stored with my will or with my papers at my death.’