top ten daredevils - Teacher Toolbox
TOP TEN DAREDEVILS Jeb Corliss: Jeb Corliss is a professional BASE jumper and skydiver who has gained a reputation for his death defying leaps from famous world landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. Corliss was briefly the host of an extreme sports TV show called Stunt Junkies, but he was fired in 2006 after he was arrested during an unsuccessful attempt to BASE jump from the Empire State Building. Larry Walters: A truck driver by trade, Larry Walters engineered one of the most creative–and downright stupid–stunts of all time in 1982, when he created his own homemade flying machine in his hometown of San Pedro, California. The aircraft, called Inspiration I, consisted of an ordinary lawn chair rigged with 45 helium weather balloons. Walters carried a pellet gun with him on the flight, and intended to eventually shoot out some of the balloons and make a graceful descent back to earth. Unfortunately, his calculations were off, and instead of rising up to a hundred or so feet as he had planned, Walters and his lawn chair immediately climbed to an altitude of nearly 15,000 feet. After flying for 45 minutes, Walters shot a few of his balloons and drifted back toward the ground, inadvertently catching a few power lines in the process and causing a major blackout. As his flight had taken him into federal airspace, Walters was arrested upon landing. When asked why he’d done it, he replied simply, “a man just can’t sit around.” Eddie Kidd: Eddie Kidd is a famed daredevil and movie stuntman, best known for undertaking over 3,000 death-defying motorcycle jumps. Kidd was the stuntman for Pierce Brosnan in several of the James Bond films in the 1990s, and back in 1979 he famously jumped 120 feet over a railway span for a stunt in the movie Hanover Street. Outside of movies, Kidd once jumped over the Great Wall of China on a stunt bike, and in another famed stunt, he jumped 80 feet over a gap in a 50-foot high viaduct. His career took a tragic turn in 1996, when he suffered a devastating crash during a jump at a motorcycle rally in England. Kidd spent six weeks in a coma after the accident, and for a while afterward was confined to a wheelchair. Amazingly, he was eventually able to make a solid recovery, and after vowing to return to the world of bike racing, he made his comeback in the UK in June of 2007. Annie Edson Taylor: 63-year-old Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to successfully go over Niagara Falls in 1901, when she took the plunge inside a wooden barrel. Amazingly, she survived the 173-foot plunge with little more than a small gash on her head. Robbie Knievel: Son of the iconic Evel Knievel, Robbie Knievel is a professional daredevil who has completed over 250 motorcycle jumps and broken at least 20 world records. Knievel began racing motorcycles at age 7, and was touring with his father by age 12. Like his dad, he has made a famous jump over the Grand Canyon, and his other stunts include jumping over a row of 15 trucks, hopping over 21 Hummers, and a televised 200 foot ramp to ramp jump in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve 2008. Unlike his father, who rode a Harley Davidson, Knievel uses a specially designed Honda CR-500 for his jumps, for which he has received much criticism.
Charles Blondin: Charles Blondin, AKA the Great Blondin, was a 19th century French acrobat and tightrope walker who gained fame in Europe and the United States for his daring high wire acts. Blondin started training to be an acrobat at age five, and by six he was already performing under the stage name “The Little Wonder.” In his twenties he was one of the most popular performers in Europe, but his crowning achievement came in 1859, when he traveled to the United States and became the first person to cross the 160-foot high gorge beneath Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Blondin easily walked the 1100 feet from one side of the gorge to the other on his first try Alain Robert: Frenchman Alain Robert is a well- known daredevil who helped pioneer the sport of “urban climbing” with his highly dangerous–and highly illegal–climbs up some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, a practice that has earned him the nickname “French Spiderman. e has made a name for himself both as a rock climber and for scaling over 85 structures and skyscrapers around the world, including the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Sears Tower, and the Petronas Twin Towers. Philippe Petit: A self-taught high wire artist, Philippe Petit is best known for walking a tight rope between the then newly constructed Twin Towers in 1974. His crowning achievement came in 1974, when he engineered a wire act between the two World Trade Towers. Using falsified documents, assumed names, disguises, and months of planning, Petit and a small band of accomplices managed to bypass the building’s security to get to the top floor of one of the towers. They used a bow and arrow to fire the tight rope from one building to another, and after securing it, Petit proceeded to perform on the wire for 45 minutes before giving himself up to police. All charges against him were eventually dropped, and he was even asked to perform again in Central Park for the children of New York City. Harry Houdini: Although he is best remembered as a magician, Harry Houdini was one of the original daredevils, and is responsible for pioneering many stunts that are still tried today. In his most famous stunts, Houdini would be placed in handcuffs and then locked in a crate or glass box, which was then lowered underwater. In some cases, these tricks would require him to hold his breath for more than 3 minutes. Other dangerous tricks included the so-called “Chinese Water Torture Cell,” and a now infamous trick where he was buried alive under six feet of earth and barely managed to escape with his life. Evel Knievel: There is no daredevil more iconic or respected than motorcycle stunt jumper Evel Knievel, and for good reason. His most famous stunt came in 1974, when he attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-propelled motorcycle called the X-1. A malfunction caused the bike’s parachute to prematurely open and ruin the jump, but the media storm. Surrounding the event had already cemented Knievel’s reputation as the king of all daredevils, and he remained in the spotlight until his death in 2007.
Adapted from Evan Andrews Posting on August 21, 2009, in Bizarre People http://www.toptenz.net/
Charles Blondin: Charles Blondin, AKA the Great Blondin, was a 19th century French acrobat and tightrope walker who gained fame in Europe and the United States for his daring high wire acts. Blondin started training to be an acrobat at age five, and by six he was already performing under the stage name “The Little Wonder.” In his twenties he was one of the most popular performers in Europe, but his crowning achievement came in 1859, when he traveled to the United States and became the first person to cross the 160-foot high gorge beneath Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Blondin easily walked the 1100 feet from one side of the gorge to the other on his first try Alain Robert: Frenchman Alain Robert is a well- known daredevil who helped pioneer the sport of “urban climbing” with his highly dangerous–and highly illegal–climbs up some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, a practice that has earned him the nickname “French Spiderman. e has made a name for himself both as a rock climber and for scaling over 85 structures and skyscrapers around the world, including the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Sears Tower, and the Petronas Twin Towers. Philippe Petit: A self-taught high wire artist, Philippe Petit is best known for walking a tight rope between the then newly constructed Twin Towers in 1974. His crowning achievement came in 1974, when he engineered a wire act between the two World Trade Towers. Using falsified documents, assumed names, disguises, and months of planning, Petit and a small band of accomplices managed to bypass the building’s security to get to the top floor of one of the towers. They used a bow and arrow to fire the tight rope from one building to another, and after securing it, Petit proceeded to perform on the wire for 45 minutes before giving himself up to police. All charges against him were eventually dropped, and he was even asked to perform again in Central Park for the children of New York City. Harry Houdini: Although he is best remembered as a magician, Harry Houdini was one of the original daredevils, and is responsible for pioneering many stunts that are still tried today. In his most famous stunts, Houdini would be placed in handcuffs and then locked in a crate or glass box, which was then lowered underwater. In some cases, these tricks would require him to hold his breath for more than 3 minutes. Other dangerous tricks included the so-called “Chinese Water Torture Cell,” and a now infamous trick where he was buried alive under six feet of earth and barely managed to escape with his life. Evel Knievel: There is no daredevil more iconic or respected than motorcycle stunt jumper Evel Knievel, and for good reason. His most famous stunt came in 1974, when he attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-propelled motorcycle called the X-1. A malfunction caused the bike’s parachute to prematurely open and ruin the jump, but the media storm. Surrounding the event had already cemented Knievel’s reputation as the king of all daredevils, and he remained in the spotlight until his death in 2007.
Adapted from Evan Andrews Posting on August 21, 2009, in Bizarre People http://www.toptenz.net/
