The Fearless Frenchman

Charles Blondin was one of the greatest showmen the world has ever seen.

IN 1859 the stocky Frenchman made headlines by walking over Niagara Falls on a rope stretched between Canada and the United States. The rope was over 300 m long and hung 49 m over the roaring waters of the river. It was a heart-stopping feat. Blondin did not just walk across the river. He performed stunts on it. On his way to the Canadian side, he lay down when he was halfway there and did a back sommersault. While returning to the American side, he carried a chair with him. He balanced two of the legs of the chair on the rope and sat on it! The chair swayed. Women screamed and men fainted. Blondin himself was as cool as a cucumber. He completed his act and calmy walked over to the American side.

The following year, Blondin walked the tightrope over Niagara blindfolded!

On another occasion he went across backwards. Sometimes he would carry a man on his back. Once, while taking a man across, he got annoyed because the passenger kept fidgetting. Finally he said to him: “Sir, I must request you to sit still or I will have to put you down.” The man, terrified, did not move a muscle after that.

Blondin walked tightropes over land and sea all over the world and delighted thousands. Whenever he walked the high wire, people watched his every step with bated breath. They knew that one false step would send him hurtling to his death. But Blondin was a master of his art. The king of tighrope walkers died peacefully in his bed at the age of 72.