Briton was owned by George Smith who brought the Wall of Death to the UK, a pub owner says.
George "Tornado" Smith, famous for bringing the "Wall of Death" to Suffolk from America, trained his lioness to ride on a motorcycle around the attraction
Mr Watts explained he fell in love with the White Hart and the story of Tornado Smith after he came to buy his father's old garage nearby in 2001. "It's a wooden cylinder where motorbikes start at the base of the cylinder and as they go around, the centrifugal forces play on the motorbike and the rider."It's quite a dangerous thing to do. I've never done it myself but there are various stories and various people who did it."Tornado Smith took his Wall of Death to the Kursaal in Southend-on-Sea in Essex each summer while keeping the show at the pub in the winter.
However as World War Two neared, at the end of the 1930s, it became increasingly hard for Tornado Smith to find enough food for Briton."It was in a cage and it got its paw trapped and it went crazy," Mr Watts explained."It was very unfortunate but the lion was buried at the front of the pub and is still there.
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