A circus boss has told of his terrifying escape from Nazi Europe in a unique recording of his life story left to his Cradley Heath family.

Lifelong performer James Kayes, who once met Adolf Hitler, had to leave behind all the animals, including his three most prized horses, when war broke out.

He recorded the story on tapes, leaving a lasting legacy to his family. Son Tommy Kayes, who worked in the circus himself before moving onto fairgrounds, unearthed the tapes this year, seven years after his father’s death.

Tommy, whose own children Ross and Scott now run the Kidsworld Fun Fair which tours Sandwell, added: “The tapes are fascinating.

“They were fairground people before there were rides, they had skills and menageries, it was brilliant. I am asking a friend to put the tapes on DVD to preserve the story.”

Ringmaster and horse rider James was born into a family of circus people in Lidbrook in Monmouthshire, son to Richard “Buff Bill”, who toured Europe with his horse-drawn USA Circus. James was one of seven brothers and also had seven sisters, most of whom went into the circus.

And his whirlwind life story was preserved on the tapes in an interview for the British Library Archives, left to his son.

He made his debut in the ring at the age of six, dancing and drumming and toured with his father’s show. It was as a teenager on a tour of Germany in 1933 that performers were introduced to statesmen, including Chancellor Hitler.

His blossoming career was however cut short when touring with the Jewish Strassburger family as the Circus Mikenie in Belgium when bombs began falling around their hotel.

Son Tommy, of Woodall Street, Cradley Heath, said: “He managed to escape from Ostend on one of the very last sailings with his brother Johnny, a lion tamer and rider, and sister

Cissie, a lion, dog and horse trainer. He had to lose his best  horse, though. He was that angry when he got back that they’d had to leave the best horses, he enlisted.”

James served in the Royal Air Force for six-and- a-half years, making his way up the ranks to sergeant during service in Palestine, Crete, Italy and Greece.

After they were demobbed, brothers James and Johnny teamed up again in 1946 with Major Russell’s Continental Express Circus. The tapes recall that a year later, James married Yolanda Truzzi, making his father-in-law William Truzzi, former director of the Russian State Circus. Yolanda, whose father had a state funeral and whose ornate Russian grave features lion statues, had her own footjuggling act.

As James and Johnny’s reputation grew as great bareback horse riders and performers, they set up their own Kayes Brothers’ Circus from 1948-1957, working across England and Ireland. James then moved into the fairground world.

He would return to the sawdust ring in the 1980s in a pink tailcoat and top hat as ringmaster for Robert Brothers’ circus at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. “They knew his reputation and asked him to come out of retirement for the shows,” Tommy added. In 2001 James received a Lifetime Achievement Award from The World’s Fair. He died in 2004, aged 86.