It was dreamed up in 1968 as a superstar-packed extravaganza that would re-establish the Rolling Stones as the undisputed rulers of rock. Instead the Rock And Roll Circus reduced them to clown princes.
As the Stones stormed back from a period of inactivity with a classic album, Beggars Banquet, they lavished a £50,000 budget on an ambitious TV special in which jugglers, fire-eaters, midgets, trapeze artists, cowboys and Indians mingled with rock’s elite and some of the hottest new talent.
