World's craziest daredevils

Alain Robert
When it comes to seeing the sights, Alain Robert doesn't do things by halves. Because the man they call 'French Spiderman' is obsessed with climbing the world's most soaring skyscrapers.

Last week he scaled Dubai's 185 metre-high Abu Dhabi Building, scurrying up the 35 flights in a record 63 minutes, as a huge crowd craned their necks far below.
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Building
And forget harnesses, ropes and safety nets. This 44-year-old spiderman prefers bare hands, soft rubber slippers and skintight, red slacks.

Among his list of conquests are the Chicago Sears Tower New York's Empire State building, the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Sydney's Centrepoint Tower, Canary Wharf and the world's tallest skyscraper - the 1,667ft Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

But Alain isn't the only man prepared to risk his life in the pursuit of that almighty adrenalin rush. Here's some other famous daredevils whose bravery (or stupidity) makes us gasp in awe!



Felix Baumgartner
Felix Baumgartner is a legendary Austrian skydiver and a BASE jumper who is famous for his death-defying leaps. In 1999 he claimed the world record parachute dive when he leapt from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This awesome feat earned him the nicknames "Fearless Felix" and "God of the skies".



Donald Campbell
Donald Campbell was a British car and motorboat racer who shattered many speed records. The speed demon set no fewer than seven world water-speed records between 1955 and 1964. On January 4, 1967, Campbell was killed when Bluebird K7 flipped and disintegrated at a speed in excess of 300 mph on Coniston Water in England.



Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was one of the most famous magicians, escapologists, and daredevils of all time, as well as an investigator of spiritualists.



David Blaine
David Blaine has earned his daredevil reputation through several highly publicised feats of endurance. These included being buried alive for seven days, spending 61 hours encased in ice, standing on a tiny, 22 inch (56 cm) wide platform at the top of a 90 foot (27 m) high pole for 35 hours, living in a transparent box for 44 days without food, and living underwater for 7 days. What will he think of next?



Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes Jr. was an aviator, movie producer, playboy, eccentric and 100% adrenaline junkie. He is famous for setting multiple world air-speed records, building the Hughes H-1 Racer and for his debilitatingly eccentric behaviour later in life.



Phillipe Petit
Philippe Petit is a French high wire artist who gained fame for his illegal walk between the former Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974. The 24-year-old Petit made eight crossings between the still unfinished towers, a quarter mile above the Earth. Wow!



Evel Knievel
Robert "Evel" Knievel, Jr. is an American stuntman, best known for his public displays of long distance, high-altitude motorcycle jumping which often resulted in serious injuries. On May 31, 1975, in front of 90,000 people in Wembley Stadium in London, Knievel crashed while trying to land a jump over 13 single decker buses. After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement.



Sam Patch
In 1827, Sam Patch leapt 70 feet from the top of Passaic Falls in New Jersey, purely for fun. This amazing achievement made him a local celebrity and he began a brief career of jumping off things to please onlookers. Nicknamed "The Yankee Leaper," Patch took a 120ft plunge over Niagara Falls in 1829 and lived to tell the tale. On Friday 13, 1829, he failed to survive a 100ft jump from the Upper Falls of the Genesee in Rochester, New York. His body wasn't found immediately, fueling speculation that he had somehow pulled a fast one. Four months later his corpse was found in the Genesee River.



James Dean
Dean's love affair with speed started early. By age 10 he was already whizzing around the family farm on his dad's tractor. In high school he was the only kid to own a motorcycle, and he was famous for daredevil stunts and scaring the wits out of his classmates. When his acting career took off, Dean bought himself a Porsche sports car to race in California. He was on his way to a race when he lost his life in a high-speed accident.



Richard Branson
According to his mother, British entrepreneur Richard Branson was a natural born daredevil. "I don't know where it came from," she says. "But how do you bring up a child that is always looking for the next risk and has little fear? We might have learned to accept the Richard and danger combination but I still can't watch when he is hanging from underneath some plane."



Steve Irwin
Australian environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin sadly died in 2006 following a tragic diving accident. Irwin was killed by a stingray barb to the chest while he was filming an underwater documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. The animal daredevil was the embodiment of a tragic accident waiting to happen. Best known as The Crocodile Hunter, Irwin's larger-than-life persona and outrageous antics (including wrestling with live crocodiles in the Australian outback) made him a household name across the world.