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Why Is The High Wire Impossible To Resist?

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode To The Edge.

About Philippe Petit's TED Talk

High-wire artist Philippe Petit tells the story of his 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers and explains his lifelong fascination with pushing himself to the limit.

I was intensely focused on walking the wire – which I am, anyway, even when I am not a quarter mile in the sky.

About Philippe Petit

Philippe Petit surprised the world when he walked illegally between the Twin Towers in 1974. He's also tightrope-walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, is the basis of the Academy Award-winning documentary film Man on Wire.

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NPR/TED Staff