Biographies: Philippe Petit - Writer

Biographies

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A French writer and highwire artist. At the age of sixteen, he learned magic and performed magic tricks, but he did not continue in this field; as he felt that he wanted to take more risks, and create an astonishment that would live after him for a long time and immortalize his name; so he began learning to walk on tightropes, and despite the difficulty of this matter, he taught himself without any teacher. His passion was directed to the famous and historical buildings in the world to perform his dangerous challenges. To attract as much attention as he could, in 1971, he took his first risk in the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral in the French capital, Paris, and proceeded with his experiment without any protection that might protect him from death in the event of a fall or loss of balance. Two years later, he chose the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia in 1973 to perform his next stunt. His bold experiments continued until he pulled a rope between the Trocadero Palace and the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in France in 1989, and walked on it. The most famous and dangerous of these challenges was his walking on a tightrope between the roofs of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, USA, on August 7, 1974. He spent nearly six years reading about the towers, and traveling with fake identities and under various pretexts to the United States. This unique experience forced the international press and writers to talk about it for many years. A sensational film was even made about the incident, Man on Wire (2008), which won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, as well as The Walk (2015), directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring American actor Joseph Levitt as Petit.

• 7 October 2024
• farah ashraf