Life Without A Net Pt.2
Charles Blondin was the greatest tightrope artist alive in the late 19th and early 20th century. Some might argue he was the greatest ever. Blondin made a living out of walking a tight rope across Niagra Falls . I've been there a couple of times, so that impresses the heck out of me. He got so good at it that he would go out on to the high wire in outlandish ways---on stilts, with a lit stove which he used to cook himself breakfast while on the wire... pretty crazy stuff. There is a story of how Blondin once walked out on to a tightrope during an exhibition and then wheeled a wheelbarrow out on to it and back. The crowd cheered. Blondin then asked the crowd if anyone believed he could wheel the wheelbarrow out on the wire with a person in it. They all affirmed that he could do it. He then asked for a volunteer. That's when things got quiet. Finally, a man volunteered from the crowd and went and got into the wheelbarrow an...