Ned Locke

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Norbert Locke, better known as Ned Locke (December 25, 1919-February 4, 1992), was an American television personality and radio announcer, best known for the role of "Ringmaster Ned" on WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus from 1961 to 1976.

Locke, who was from Red Wing, Minnesota, got into radio quite young, appearing on a program in Minneapolis-St.Paul when he was only nine-years-old. By 1950, he was appearing on WMAQ (NBC) radio in Chicago, on a program called Uncle Ned's Squadron. It was his appearance here that led him to substituting for longtime Chicago children's host Johnny Coons on his Noontime Comics series on WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV) in 1951. He worked there and at local ABC affiliate WENR (now WLS-TV) appearing in teledramas, musicals, commercials and even writing a teleplay called Jet Pilot.

He moved over to WGN-TV in 1956, where he was a weather forecaster; co-starred on the children's series Lunchtime Little Theater; and later wrote, produced and starred in the children's program Paddleboat. He got the role, for which he is best remembered, as Ringmaster Ned on September 11, 1961 when Bozo's Circus made its debut. Locke stayed on until he retired from television in 1976.

After retirement, he moved to Kimberling City, Missouri, where he was chief of police and later mayor until his death from liver cancer in 1992.