Posted on June 30, 2021
Key points
This is an update of my post published on June 21, 2010:
On this date in 1859, a French man named Jean Francois Gravelet crossed the swift-flowing, rock-pounding Niagara Falls on a tightrope!
(Don’t try this at home, kids; not only is this almost certainly suicidal, it’s also illegal! If you try something like this nowadays, without permission, you will probably be stopped and arrested!)
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| Gravelet on the tightrope |
UPDATE: These amazing colored photos are of Nik Wallenda, who did ask permission to do the same crazy stunt. (A more dangerous version, actually, because of exactly where he was crossing.)
In June of 2012, he crossed the falls on a tightrope in front of hundreds of thousands of people.
Oh, and a few TV cameras and some 13 million people worldwide!
He used a safety harness because ABC TV insisted that he do so!
Can you imagine walking 1,800 feet on a two-inch wire 180 feet in the air–with swirling winds and mist making the wire slippery!?! Wallenda could barely see through the mist!
Also on this date:
Anniversary of a very sweet art show
Independence Day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Anniversary of the discovery of the Excelsior Diamond
Army Day in Guatemala
Asteroid Day
Plan ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
- July holidays
- July birthdays
- Historical anniversaries in July
