Roslyn Walker (b. Russel Erwood on 19 March 1981

Brislington Brislington is an area in the south east of the city of Bristol, England. It is on the edge of Bristol and from Bath. Brislington Brook runs through the area in the woodlands of Nightingale Valley and St Anne's Wood. Brislington formerly hou ...

, Bristol, England) is an entertainer. He currently resides in Conwy with his partner, dancer Foxee Stole. Walker made his name as an

escape artist Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and oth ...

and

stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

but his work also includes being the official

jester A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs and ...

of Conwy and under his real name he worked as TV magic consultant for Breaking Magic on Discovery Channel and Tricked! on British TV channel ITV2. Over the years Walker has recreated

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

's most technically challenging escape stunts including the suspended straitjacket escape and the world famous Mirror Handcuff Challenge. Walker broke two world records within the field of escapology and has been voted 6th in the Ten Greatest Escape Artists in History.

World records

On 29 April 2011 in The Albert Pub, Llandudno, Walker set two new world records for escaping from regulation police handcuffs: * ''The Most Handcuff Escapes in One Minute'': The previous record of six was beaten by Walker setting a new world record of nine handcuff escapes in a single minute. * ''The Most Handcuff Escapes in One Hour'': Walker ~ ''the Gentleman Escape Artist'' escaped from 677 pairs of handcuffs in full view without the use of keys within one hour beating the record set by Zdenek Bradac in the Czech Republic in 2010 by 50.

Modern mirror handcuff challenge

The original Mirror Handcuff Challenge was issued to

in 1904 by the newspaper The London Daily Mirror. In 2008 Walker appeared at the Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza and at the end of the event was challenged by the committee to recreate the feat under the same conditions Houdini faced over 100 years previous. Just as when Houdini performed the original Mirror Cuff Challenge, Walker did not see how the cuffs locked or unlocked, he did not see or handle the key used to secure the restraints, nor were the cuffs removed once they had been locked in place. To do so would have been to accept defeat. Houdini had two advantages over Walker's attempt. The first was that Houdini was able to hide inside a cabinet away from the eyes of the public, Walker had to perform his attempt before an audience of 10000 people. The second advantage is that Houdini had as much time as he wanted. Walker had a strict time limit. Walker was successful and the ''Extravaganza Challenge Cuffs'' now form part of his collection of defeated handcuffs and can be seen in all venues he performs in.

Suspended straitjacket escape

Walker recreated this stunt in the same way that Houdini did it for

Fanfarlo Fanfarlo are a London-based indie/alternative band formed in 2006 by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. They fuse elements of folk, indie rock and post-punk using eclectic instrumentation including trumpet, violin, mandolin, musical saw, clari ...

's music video ''The Walls are Coming Down''. Suspended by his feet Walker dangled above the band and managed to free himself a total of seven times during just three hours of filming. This stunt was so extreme that Walker left the shoot bleeding from the armpits.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Roslyn Escapologists British stunt performers English magicians British circus performers English entertainers Sideshow performers Jugglers People from Bristol 1981 births Living people