'Jester wanted': England brings back the clown

LONDON (AFP) - An advertisement for the first state jester to be employed in England since 1649 will appear in the Times newspaper on Thursday.

The jester, an outrageously-dressed clown complete with triple-pointed hat, is being sought to once again entertain the crowds, as he used to in the royal courts of Europe during the Middle Ages.

English Heritage, a public body responsible for the country's historic environment, is reviving the post which was last seen in the court of King Charles I.

The job will be advertised for the first time in 350 years in the classified section of Thursday's Times.

"Jester wanted. Must be mirthful and prepared to work summer weekends in 2005. Must have own outfit (with bells)," the advertisement is to say.

Duties of the court jester for King Charles I included providing entertainment at feasts to aid the monarch's digestion and preventing state affairs weighing too heavily on him.

The role was abolished by Oliver Cromwell during his puritanical purge of the country -- as a fundamentalist Christian republic, there was thought to be no place in England for such frivolity.

English Heritage now wants to bring the jester back and the contemporary counterpart must be willing to feign stupidity and madness for the sake of other's enjoyment, according to English Heritage spokeswoman Tracy Borman.