Philippe Petit

He divides his time between New York City, where he is an artist in residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and a hideaway in the Catskill Mountains, where he lives with his partner, Kathy O’Donnell. He has a daughter named Cordia Gypsy.

Philippe Petit was born on 13 August 1949 in Nemours, Seine - et - Marne, France. His father, Edmond Petit, was an Army pilot and author. Young Petit was influenced by his father and took to outdoor activities. He loved rock climbing and learnt how to juggle and perform magic by the age of six.

At the age of 16 he was influenced by the Czech aerialist, Rudy Omankowsky, from whom he learnt how to rig a wire and started tightrope walking. He did not take long to learn how to do a somersault and ride a cycle on a wire. He was not good in academics and had to drop out of school at the age of 18. However, his talent was enough to get him an audience on the streets of his hometown.

He mastered a few other stunts and one fine day in Jun 1971, he secretly erected a cable between two towers in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris at a height of 223 feet and walked on it juggling balls while he covered the distance between the two towers. A crowd gathered below and applauded his effort, while a church service was in progress inside the cathedral.

He was 18 years old when he learnt about the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan and made it his dream walk on a cable between the two towers. He started gathering information about the towers and began preparing himself for the feat.

Petit started by doing tightrope walking performances and magic shows in the parks of New York. He became a known personality to New Yorkers for his shows in the Washington Square Park.

While he planned for his dream of walking the tight rope between the twin towers, he continued making several other performances. In 1973, he walked on a wire between the two North pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.

Petit’s dream came true on August 7, 1974 when he walked on a cable between the towers of the World Trade Centre. He performed for 45 minutes, almost quarter of a mile above the ground. He made a total of eight passes over the cable during which he walked, danced, lay down and saluted from a kneeling position.

His performance has been called the artistic crime of the century. He was arrested for criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct after his performance but later he was set free by the mayor of New York, since he proclaimed to be an artist and not a daredevil stunt man.

His achievement received wide media coverage and brought the twin towers into the lime light. Charges of trespassing were dropped against him in exchange for a free performance for children at the Central Park.

Petit is best known for tightrope walking between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

He has also written a number of books including ‘A Square Peg’ and the e’book, ‘Cheating the Impossible: Ideas and Recipes from a Rebellious High – Wire Artist’.