Crime Stories TV - Karl Wallenda - New York: Centre of the World TV - Philippe Petit - rozzer - The Walk 2015 -
A high-wire act that cheated death more than once. A man nobody really knew. A performer who didn’t want an audience. A thief who eluded the police for decades. Crime Stories: Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief
Bill Mason estimates he stole about $35,000,000 of jewellery before he got caught. ibid.
Mason used mountain climbing equipment to scale high-rise apartments and hotels. ibid.
Being on a tightrope is living; everything else is waiting. Karl Wallenda
‘I think I love them [Twin Towers] from the inside ... I love their strength and their arrogance. New York: Centre of the World I, Philippe Petit, PBS 2003
For nearly thirty years they stood at the foot of Manhattan. Two of the tallest and most instantly recognisable structures on Earth. ibid.
His elder brother Nelson was sworn in as governor of New York State. ibid.
The Rockefeller brothers had managed to make a half billion real estate capital not only plausible but inevitable. ibid.
The Port Authority prevailed on every front. ibid.
In early January 1974 he [Philippe Petit, high wire artist] flew to New York for the first time. New York: Centre of the World II
‘I actually find myself trespassing.’ ibid. Philippe Petit
'The Towers – the more I got to know them the more they are alive ... my friends.' ibid.
The hour of the coup finally arrived: at six o’clock on the evening of Tuesday August 6th 1974 ... Three heavy crates of equipment. ibid.
And a bow and arrow. ibid.
Petit was immediately taken into custody and rudely manhandled down into an underground police station ... No less than fourteen misdemeanours. ibid.
The astonishing feat of high-wire poetry was the highest point in Philippe Petit’s life and in many ways in the lives of the Twin Towers themselves. ibid.
An instant folk hero. ibid.
Petit himself would never lose his love of the Towers. ibid.
He would return to the high perch whenever he could. ibid.
A day of seemingly infinite visibility, one man later said. ibid.
To me it is so simple that life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion. To refuse to taper yourself to rules. To refuse your own success. To refuse to repeat yourself. To see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge. And then you live your life on a tightrope. Philippe Petit, Man on Wire, wire-walked between Twin Towers August 1974
I was not afraid. But I was just looking at what was in front of me. Philippe Petit
Upon seeing us he started to smile and laugh and he started to go into a dancing routine on the high-wire ... He laid down on the high-wire ... A once in a lifetime. rozzer, televised interview
Why? That is the question people ask me most. The Walk 2015 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Charlotte Le Bo & Ben Kingsley & Clement Sibony & James Badge Dale & Cesar Domboy & Ben Schwartz Benedict Samuel & Steve Valentine at el, director Robert Zemeckis, opening monologue
My dream is to hang a high-wire between those twin towers and walk on it. ibid.
There is no show without an audience. ibid. circus dude to hero
All artists are anarchists to some degree. ibid.
Now it starts. The coup has begun. ibid.
My name is Philippe Petit. I am a wire-walker. ibid.