I've been arrested many times for illegal high wire walking and illegal street performing.
Death frames the high wire. But I don't see myself as taking risks. I do all of the preparations that a non-death seeker would do.
There was a TV special every year called 'Circus of the Stars,' and I did three consecutive ones - one as a juggler, one as a high-wire performer, and one as a high hand balance.
It is treacherous on a high wire to change your focus point and suddenly look down.
I walk on the wire; it's my profession, and there are no two high wire walks alike.
Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
I have been performing in the street for more than 50 years: magic for basically 60 years, and the high wire 45 years. The beauty of it is that it's never the same. It's never easy. And yet, part of my art is to make it look easy.
I was born in a world of opera, theatre, films, poetry, art, and therefore, out of the wire, I made a stage. That's why they call me a high wire artist.
I am not up there by chance. I am there by choice. And I know the wire. And I know my limits. And I am a madman of details.
If you had a friend who was a tightrope walker, and you were walking down a sidewalk, and he fell, that would be completely unacceptable.
As a high wire walker, I do not allow myself to 'leave the wire' during a performance.
If you see how carefully I prepare for any kind of walk, legal or illegal, small or big, you will see that, actually, I narrow the unknown to virtually nothing. And that's when I am ready to walk on the wire.
I'm actually not a huge circus fan in the traditional sense, but I like a lot of the circus trappings of striped tents and caramel. I lean more towards Cirque du Soleil than Barnum and Bailey.
Those who take risks walk the high wire with no fear of falling.
Usually, when I walk on a wire, I inspect the anchor point on both sides before crossing.
It's very normal - when you're not used to the world of the high wire, it's very normal to be simply terrified. The reason I'm not is because I've done it for so many years.
Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.
I'm often very relaxed when I'm on the wire.
Many people use the words 'death defying' or 'death wishing' when they talk about wire-walking. Many people have asked me: 'So do you have a death wish?' After doing a beautiful walk, I feel like punching them in the nose. It's indecent. I have a life wish.
A novel is a great act of passion and intellect, carpentry and largess. From the very beginning, I wrote to explain my own life to myself, and I invited readers who chose to make the journey with me to join me on the high wire.
If I had been born in the circus, my parents would have pushed me on that little high wire at four years old. That's when the body is most limber to learn those acrobatics.
You don't have to tell me how long I'm on the wire.
On the high wire, within months, I'm able to master all the tricks they do in the circus, except I am not satisfied.
I rendezvous with the long wire and perform the 'torero walk', gliding my feet, holding the pole away from my body, head high.
If 'ecstasy' means to stand outside ourselves, then what better ambition can there be as we wait in the wings of the Royal Albert Hall: to leave self-obsession behind and take the audience on a journey across the high wire of Beethoven or the flying trapeze of Liszt.
