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==Career==
After serving as a parish priest, Bain decided to convey the Christian message through a different route, inspired by his lifelong love of clowns. His father had written a biography of the famous clown [[Joseph Grimaldi]]. As a young boy, Bain had loved the sad-faced clown [[Nicolai Poliakoff|Coco]]. So he took a clown's training and became a free-lance clown-priest, presenting the Gospel message through jokes and pratfalls. He performed in churches, conference halls, hospitals, schools, football fields, and prisons. He would enter the venue on a unicycle, open with the invocation "Let us play!", and preach while balancing on (or falling from) a [[Slacklining|slackrope]], a speciality of Bain.<ref name = "economist" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNeM9SRK24kC|title=Serious Play: Modern Clown Performance|last=Peacock|first=Louise|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Intellect Books|year=|isbn=9781841502410|location=|pages=161|language=en|via=}}</ref> Like Coco, Bain perfomed as an [[Clown#White clown and Auguste|Auguste]], a clumsy character who is on the receiving end of water buckets and accidents, and who often works as a foil to the more clever and arrogant stage personality of the white-faced clown. According to Bain, the Auguste role allows him to provide a mirror to everyday personalities, if it is not too exaggerated.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxagAwAAQBAJ|title=How to Become a Creative Church Leader: A MODEM Handbook|last=Nelson|first=John|date=2008-02-28|publisher=Canterbury Press|year=|isbn=9781853118135|location=|pages=17ff|language=en|via=}}</ref> He often took on the [[stock character]] roles of the Jester and the Vulnerable Lover.<ref name = "website" /> He performed routines like juggling and egg-smashing and blew [[Soap bubble|soap bubbles]]. According to his website, he had [[pieing|custard-pied]] ten bishops, and "most were grateful - or at least happy to play".<ref name = "website">{{cite web|url=http://www.rolybain.co.uk/index_files/Page590.htm|title=Why, What & Where|work=Roly Bain website|accessdate=9 September 2016}}</ref>
Bain traced the origins of his clown ministry to the "holy fools" and "[[Feast of Fools|feasts of fools]]" of the Middle Ages, and quoted [[Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul]] saying "We are fools for Christ." (1 Corinthians 4:10).<ref name="guardian" /> He was the only Church of England priest to work full-time as a clown. He once said, “That is the only sort of clowning I do: getting across the Christian message to different audiences in different ways.”<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2004/19-march/features/playing-the-fool-for-christ|title=Playing the fool for Christ|date=2 November 2006|work=Church Times|accessdate=4 September 2016}}</ref> He took his act to Europe, America, and Australia. He was partially supported by a non-profit organisation called The Faith and Foolishness Trust, which supports clown-priests.<ref name="economist">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21706222-reverend-roly-bain-clown-priest-died-august-11th-aged-62-let-us-play|title=Let us play: The Reverend Roly Bain, clown-priest, died on August 11th, aged 62|date=3 September 2016|work=The Economist|accessdate=4 September 2016}}</ref> In 1982 he helped to set up Holy Fools, an organisation to support clown ministry.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/08/22/the-reverend-roly-bain-priest-and-clown--obituary/|title=The Reverend Roly Bain, priest and clown – obituary|last=|first=|date=22 August 2016|website=|publisher=The telegraph|access-date=2016-09-08}}</ref> He was a member of both the College of Evangelists and Clowns International; at Clowns International he served as chaplain.
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