High-wire artist Philippe Petit surprised the world when he walked illegally between the Twin Towers in 1974.

Why you should listen

Besides having stretched a steel cable without permission between the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, high-wire artist Philippe Petit is a street juggler, writes, draws, performs close-up magic, practices lock-picking and 18th-century timber framing, plays chess, studies French wine, gives lectures and workshops on creativity and motivation, and was recently sighted bullfighting in Peru. Also, he has been arrested over 500 times … for street juggling.

Petit’s book To Reach the Clouds is the basis of the Academy Award-wining documentary film Man on Wire. His new high-wire project on Easter Island -- Rapa Nui Walk -- is an homage to the Rapa Nui and their giant carved stone statues, the Moai.

Petit is working on his seventh book, Why Knot? He just completed his first series of Master Classes: Tightrope! An Exploration into the Theatre of Balance. He is also hard at work on a new one-man stage show titled Wireless! Philippe Petit Down to Earth.

What others say

“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.” — Philippe Petit