Born in Sheffield, Howie first trained in horticulture, then, inspired by seeing Archaos and NoFit State at Glastonbury, he volunteered as a scaffolder on a NoFit show in 15 years ago and ended up with a large role. In 2009 and 2010 he worked on Tabu, and most recently he has worked on Bianco. His speciality is eccentric characterisation combined with classic circus skills of balance and manipulation.