Lilly Yokoi, ‘Ballerina on the Golden Bicycle’ held to be one of the greatest-ever circus artistes

Telegraph ObituariesWed, July 22, 2026 at 10:49 AM UTC

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Lilly Yokoi: she appeared in front of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at the Royal Variety Performance

Lilly Yokoi, “the Ballerina on the Golden Bicycle”, who has died aged 96 or 97, astounded audiences around the world with her tricks; she brought grace and beauty to the worlds of variety and the circus with her signature 18-carat gold-plated bike.

Arnold Tschopp, a Swiss rider and six-time world artistic cycling champion, came up with the idea of the Golden Bicycle and gold-plated it for her.

One of four daughters and a son, she was born to Japanese parents, Eizo and Rui Yokoi, in New York in 1929 while her family was touring with their trick-cycling act, the Yokoi Troupe. The family settled in the US but travelled the world, and were seen in Great Britain in the 1950s at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, and at the celebrated Blackpool Tower Circus.

Lilly’s Tokyo-born father Eizo had started the act after an American friend gave him a bicycle as a present and he taught himself some tricks on it. He gave up studying for a law degree to start an act with his wife, and they were later joined by their growing family.

Lilly broke away from the troupe to embark on a solo career, boosted by her first public performance, on The Ed Sullivan Show. She went on to appear on another variety show, The Hollywood Palace, and twice toured the world as an intermission act with the Harlem Globetrotters, whose owner Abe Saperstein later said: “She was the greatest performer we’ve ever had with us.”

Lilly Yokoi in London - ANL/Shutterstock

She did a season at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, and appeared in the revue Hello America in Las Vegas. She performed with the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus – “The Greatest Show on Earth” – and was one of 19 acts featured in Rings Around the World, a 1966 film directed by Gilbert Cates and fronted by Don Ameche, showcasing leading circus acts. Besides Lilly, they included the Mascott Sisters’ head-to-head balancing act on a high ladder; Pauline Schumann on her trick horse; the Tongas, high bar specialists; Marco’s sword-balancing act; and an archery act in which Grey Arrow shot an apple off the head of Zuni, his wife.

Lilly Yokoi worked with most of the leading circuses of Europe, including Cirkus Scott in Sweden, Circus Krone in Denmark and Cirkus Schumann in Germany. Circus Knie, Switzerland’s national circus, featured her and her Swedish husband Roland Johansson – the handstand acrobat Rolando – three times, in 1959, 1962 and 1975.

He became her manager – always insisting that he appear on the bill with her. This often displeased circus owners, who did not take kindly to being blackmailed, but they accepted the situation in the struggle to engage his wife.

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Roland was said to be a hard taskmaster, but he elevated Lilly’s salary to heights remarkable for a circus act. She was said to be the world’s highest-paid circus performer – though that is not certain, as circus managers are usually reluctant to publicise the sums they pay.

A rare London appearance came with the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia in the winter of 1962-63, where the habitually cautious producer Cyril Mills billed her as “The greatest cyclist ever and one of the great circus artistes of all time”. In 1965 she appeared in front of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at the Royal Variety Performance.

‘Lilly Yokoi began where all other trick-cyclists left off’

In his 1966 book Bertram Mills Circus: Its Story, Mills recalled: “She was no ‘find’, for she was about the highest-paid circus artiste in the world, and having had to do battle with all the great circuses, I still had to wait two years until she was free.

“She had played all the top places in the States, and the Lido in Paris, and although I was paying her an enormous salary, I felt sure I was getting my money’s worth as she had never appeared in the West End, and before coming to London she had had the whole of her bicycle plated with gold.

“When some of my co-directors knew what I was going to pay one girl to ride one bicycle they probably thought I needed to have my head attended to, but Lilly Yokoi began where all other trick-cyclists left off, and although I am loth to prefer one artiste at the expense of others, I think she was one of the greatest performers I ever engaged.”

When not touring, Lilly and Roland lived in New Jersey

When not touring, Lilly and Roland lived in New Jersey; they had a daughter, Monika, who did not follow in their showbusiness footsteps. By the time Lilly Yokoi appeared at the Blackpool Tower Circus for the 1978 summer season and at the Kelvin Hall Circus in Glasgow, she and Roland had divorced.

Her younger sister, Kimi, followed her on the international circuit, but without the same exalted level of success.

Lilly Yokoi eventually retired to Tokyo, where she was reported to be living in much reduced circumstances.

Lilly Yokoi, born 1929, died May 11 2026

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