Circus hopefuls look sharp

Gail Lawrence looks apprehensive at her audition

Budding circus performers experienced life at the sharp end when they auditioned for a job as a knife-thrower's apprentice.

Six fearless volunteers tested their mettle when they tried out for the vacant job with the Cottle & Austen circus.

Although 22 people replied when the vacancy was first advertised, only half a dozen - four women and two men - had the nerves of steel needed to brave the audition at Aberdeen's Beach Boulevard.

They found out if they were prepared to live life on a knife edge by standing against a wall while Jayde Hanson flung 10 knives towards them at up to 60mph.

Seonaid Wiseman was first in the queue for auditions

The job fell vacant after the previous assistant decided on a change of career, forcing the daughter of one of the circus owners to act as a temporary stand-in.

Seonaid Wiseman, a 29-year-old post-graduate physical geography student at Aberdeen University, was the first to put herself in the firing line at the auditions.

She said she had been "blank with terror" when the first knife hit the board.

But she added: "After the first one I had every confidence in him."

'I'm quite nervous'

Gail Lawrence, 19, said she would definitely accept the job if it was offered to her.

"It wasn't as bad as it seemed," she said. "When you're actually standing and watching him it looks as if he isn't going to hit you. It's fine."

Alison Ewen, 27, said she had dreamed of joining the circus since she was a child - although knife throwing was not what she initially had in mind.

"I'm quite nervous, but it's not every day you get to stand in front of a board and have somebody throw knifes at you," she said.

Knifethrower JD Hanson has a glint in his eye

Mr Hanson, who has been practising the art since the age of 10, said he had never inflicted major injury.

But he admitted he had given people nicks and cuts in the past.

He said: "I got my ex-girlfriend three times. She was my girlfriend then but she's not any longer - she left me."

Company manager Jan Erik Brenner said the trick was not to look too scared.

He said: "All they have to do is stand there and make it look easy."

The applicants, who all hailed from Aberdeen, will find out later who has won the coveted job, which pays £240 a week with free accommodation and travel.