Page 29 - All About History 48 - 2017 UK

CLEM SOHN AMERICAN 1920-37 Kittinger still holds
Nicknamed the Bird Man, he soared through the the record for the
longest freefall
skies with his wings outstretched. The wings in
question were actually made of canvas, and were
fixed to metal bars running through Clem Sohn’s
jumpsuit. The daredevil performer was originally
a ‘delayed jumper’, an airshow skydiver who would
Sohn’s suit allowed him delay opening his parachute for as long as possible
to bank, somersault and to impress the crowds. However, after debuting his
glide through the air wing suit in 1935, he started a new trend
and hoped to one day land without
Petit was a parachute at all. Sadly, two
arrested for years later, ‘the Michigan Icarus’
fell to his death when both his
his World Trade parachutes failed to open.
Center stunt, but the
ROSSA charges were dropped PORPHYRIUS
MATILDA RICHTER in exchange for a THECHARIOTEER JOSEPH KITTINGER
performance in
ENGLISH 1863-UNKNOWN Central Park LIBYAN 480-UNKNOWN AMERICAN 1928-PRESENT
Following a loud explosion and puff of Roman charioteers With the clouds below him and nothing but
smoke, 14-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter, were the sports stars darkness above, Air Force pilot Joseph Kittinger
performing as ‘Zazel’, flew six metres oftheirday,andnonewere stepped out into the eerie silence of space and
through the air and landed in a more celebrated than Porphyrius. began his 31,333-metre fall back to Earth. On
safety net to rapturous applause. He raced for both major teams that day in August 1960, he had already broken
Although her claim to being the in 6th-century Constantinople, one world record: the highest ascent in an open
Porphyrius’s
first-ever human cannonball becoming the first to have monuments gondola dangling from a balloon. Four minutes
is contested, the stunt she statues erected by both groups were built in the and 36 seconds later, when his parachute
Hippodrome of
performed in London in 1877 in his honour. Typically these Constantinople opened, he had broken two more: the longest
heralded a new kind of circus weren’t built until a charioteer freefall and the fastest speed reached by a
act. The gunpowder was just for retired, but Porphyrius, who human unaided. Finally, by the time he
Zazel retired after Annie
show though, as springs were breaking her back when continued to race into his touched down, the record for longest
used to propel her into the air. a stunt went wrong 60s, was the exception. Taylor failed to parachute decent was his too.
make her fortune, as
“Life the manager she hired Taylor survived the fall
Petit began wire- with only minor cuts
walking aged 16 and to promote her Niagara and bruises
performed for tourists should be
on the streets of Paris Falls stunt embezzled
lived on all the money she
the edge” earned from it

Philippe Petit

ANNIE TAYLOR

PHILIPPE PETIT FRENCH 1949-PRESENT AMERICAN 1838-1921
Left struggling financially after her
On the morning of 7 August 1974, the citizens
husband died in the American Civil
of New York City were looking up, gazing
War, teacher Annie Taylor came up
wide-eyed at a figure balancing on a thin wire,
with a daring idea to achieve fame
400 metres above their heads. That figure was
and fortune. On the day of her 63rd
Philippe Petit, and although he was breaking
birthday, she was strapped into an
the law, the crowd below cheered his incredible
old wooden pickle barrel lined with
bravery. After years of secretly studying the
cushions and sent hurtling over
newly built World Trade Center, Petit and his
the 53-metre Horseshoe Falls of the
friends sneaked past the building’s guards the
Niagara River. Although not the first
night before and rigged a wire between the
person to go over the Niagara Falls,
twin towers. After crossing the wire eight times,
she was the first woman to attempt
he finally obeyed the police and returned to
the drop, as well as the first person to © Alamy, Getty Images
solid ground a hero.
do it in barrel.
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