My husband, Arthur Pedlar, who has died aged 89, was a clown with an international reputation. Although his main occupation until he retired at 65 was managing a shop – Wayfarer’s Arts in Southport, which sold modern Scandinavian furniture – it was through clowning that he found his greatest satisfaction.
Born in Southport, the eldest child of Margaret (nee Mercy), a housewife and former nurse, and Vyvian Pedlar, a banker, Royal Navy air reservist, actor, singer and dancer and founder of Wayfarer’s Arts, he inherited from his father a love of greasepaint.
