Defying vertigo and the void
It is lucky for us common mortals that Philippe Petit is a tightrope-walker who can write. Blondin, the funambule of Niagara Falls (1859), left nothing but interviews, so that we know very little about his character. Like Philippe, he forsook his native France following success in the US but, instead of staying on, moved to London for an engagement at the newly built Crystal Palace. He remained here until his death in 1897 and is buried in Kensal Green cemetery. There was no equivalent of the Crystal Palace to be found the summer of 1973, when Philippe Petit came over to London at my request.