First flying trapeze artist

One of the most spectacular disciplines of circus arts, the flying trapeze was invented by the French gymnast Jules Léotard (1838–1870), who performed it for the first time on 12 November 1859 at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris, France. His father, Jean Léotard, had conceived the equipment. Léotard leapt from trapeze to trapeze: the catcher (and leaps from a trapeze to the hands of a catcher) appeared later, at the end of the 19th century. Léotard became an international show-business superstar during his short career, but he owed his fame as much to his acrobatic prowess as to his revealing costume. He was, in fact, show business’s first sex symbol, and the costume he originated is named after him in the English language: the leotard.