“There’s a sucker born every minute.” That was the philosophy of P.T. Barnum, the ultimate showman in 19th-century America. Surrounded by conservative values, a young Phineas Taylor Barnum turned to practical jokes as a way to alleviate boredom—a skill that would later become the foundation of his career and legacy.

While Barnum's understanding of the public's taste for the bizarre shaped modern entertainment, turning curiosities into commercial gold, his tactics often lacked moral integrity. At age 25, Barnum began his showmanship by purchasing the right to 'rent' an elderly black woman in Philadelphia, parading her around as George Washington's 161-year-old nurse.

At 31, he turned the American Museum in New York City into a centre for oddities, drawing millions of visitors and solidifying his reputation as a master of the extraordinary.

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