20 AUGUST 2003
Master of illusion David Blaine has announced that he will perform his latest death-defying stunt in London. The 30-year-old magician is planning to be suspended in a Perspex box above the Thames, without food, for 45 days.

He will have no means of communication and his only source of nourishment will be a tube supplying him with water. And despite the fact that he is renowned for his magical skills, David insists there will be no trickery involved.

"We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe," he said. "We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure much more than we think we can."

It's not the first time he has amazed the world with a bizarre stunt. He once encased himself in a huge block of ice for three days and last year he stood on top of a 100-ft pole in New York for 35 hours.

While such feats may seem incredible to most people, David insists there is nothing extraordinary about his abilities. "In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our own minds," he insists. "My next performance will demonstrate these ideas through the most extreme exercise in isolation and physical deprivation ever attempted."

Those eager to get a look at David in his new see-through home can catch him on Channel 4 or Sky One, which will both be televising the stunt. Londoners, of course, need only take a trip down to the river, where he will be dangling from a crane from September 5 at 8pm.