Best ot the Bits: Hackney

Clowning around at degree level

The Circus Space in Hoxton offers the UK's only university degree course in clown skills, and also adult classes in everything from clowning to trapeze.

Baron Alan's Hackney sweet-life

Billionaire star of The Apprentice Alan Sugar was born here, and went to school in Upper Clapton. He still has connections with the borough - and is a patron of the Hackney Empire.

The heart and soul of amateur football

Hackney Marshes is the home of over 100 amateur football matches every Sunday, and has long been the breeding ground for Premier League level talent.

Hackney prepares to welcome the world

The borough will be home to a third of the entire olympic and paralympic area when the 2012 Olympics come to London.

Empire of success

The Hackney Empire's annual 'New Act of the Year' competition - which anyone can enter - was the starting point for many of the best known comedians in Britain today.