John Smith Clarke (4 February 1885 – 30 January 1959) was a British socialist politician, poet, author, newspaper editor, art expert and lion tamer. He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, and began performing in the circus from a young age—riding a horse bareback from age 10 and becoming the country's youngest lion tamer at age 17. In his early life he was also a sailor and gun runner for Russian revolutionaries. During the First World War he wrote for publications which expressed an anti-war sentiment and gave anti-war lectures, which forced him to go into hiding in Arleston near Derby. He was part of a group of Socialist Labour Party conscientious objectors called the 'flying corps' who evaded the authorities and avoided prosecution. In 1920, he visited Russia as a delegate to the Second