Full video

0:00

as I'm getting higher I'm starting to

0:02

hear all the Sirens from all across

0:05

London just descending upon me

0:08

helicopters and I'm looking down I'm

0:10

seeing all all the police at the

0:18

bottom people in my line of work die

0:23

they're so used to what they're doing

0:24

and the fear is no longer present I can

0:27

never be complacent that's a really

0:30

important principle I have to stay

0:33

alive my name is George King but you

0:35

might know me better as the guy who

0:37

climbed The Shard since climb The Shard

0:40

I've base jumped off Europe's tallest

0:42

roller coaster I've climbed Tower agba

0:45

in Barcelona climb Stratosphere tower in

0:48

London latte Tower in South Korea and

0:50

many more you can't just turn up and do

0:53

what I do it requires years of

0:56

experience and training combining both

0:58

mental preparation and physical

1:00

preparation I climb a crane for 2 to 3

1:03

hours with a weighted vest on and that

1:06

way I'm not only building Endurance on a

1:08

physical level I'm also building that

1:10

mental exposure you can be as strong as

1:14

you like but there's a thing which

1:16

happens when you're halfway up the

1:17

building where Panic can set in and if

1:21

you're mentally not prepared for that it

1:23

will [ __ ] you I think people get this

1:25

uh misconception about me that I'm

1:27

fearless it's really not the case I fear

1:30

a lot it's a very useful tool to tap

1:34

into ever since I've been conscious I've

1:37

been climbing things like I I had an

1:40

attraction to Heights I I couldn't quite

1:43

understand why other people in my

1:45

classroom weren't as curious about

1:48

emotions like fear like I to climb up a

1:50

really tall tree i' get to the top and

1:54

I'd look down I'd be scared and I'd sort

1:57

of dare myself to jump out the tree

2:00

even though I was totally alone and no

2:02

one was pressuring me to do it I was

2:05

just curious about what that what was

2:07

holding me back what those butterflies

2:08

were I wanted to control it I wanted to

2:11

explore that GE George is very different

2:14

for sure he always set himself pretty

2:17

massive goals at quite a young age like

2:20

for instance when he was 16 he was like

2:22

I'm going to do an ultra marathon I'd

2:25

have hundreds of different dreams on a

2:26

list and you know they'd range from you

2:29

know being the youngest to swim the

2:31

channel youngest to climb Everest I was

2:33

obsessed with this idea of doing

2:35

something big and when I was 13 I was on

2:39

a school art trip and for the first time

2:41

out of the coach window I Saw The Shard

2:45

and I found it very striking it was

2:48

alone from all the other buildings in

2:50

London it was futuristic and intuitively

2:53

I wrote it down on my big list kleim The

2:55

Shard

3:00

I was a personal trainer in London at

3:02

the time I remember a client didn't turn

3:05

up for a session and in that 2-hour

3:06

window I decided to go and have a look

3:08

at The Shard I went back home pulled out

3:11

my laptop and I realized if I were to

3:13

get to that point and up to there and to

3:15

there then I could get on The Shard and

3:17

so therefore it could be possible and

3:20

then that started a whole 8mon period of

3:24

borderline psychotic Obsession I I had

3:27

to do it like the idea of not doing it

3:30

was just just impossible it was

3:32

important for me to keep my family from

3:34

knowing about me aiming to climb The

3:36

Shard

3:37

because I would like to emotionally

3:40

protect them so I always had a feeling

3:42

that he was like up to something or that

3:44

that there was something going on I'd

3:46

keep track of my lies to my family so

3:48

that they wouldn't expect it and I'd

3:51

hide things under my bed and essentially

3:53

I was sort of leading a tubble life I'd

3:56

wear different disguises to avoid

3:59

pattern

4:00

recognition so some days i' I'd wear a

4:02

suit and I'd sort of pose myself as an

4:04

office worker and I'd have a

4:06

conversation with a concierge and I'd

4:07

just get a feel for their response rate

4:10

or other times I'd wear sports kit and

4:12

I'd run up to a pillar of The Shard and

4:15

I'd stretch on it I'd measure that It Go

4:17

the pillar would go from my wrist to the

4:19

elbow and then I run back home and then

4:21

I get a tape measure and i' measure from

4:23

my wrist to the elbow and then I'll get

4:25

a measurement and that would be my piece

4:26

of information uh from the REI and I do

4:30

that over a hundred times trying to get

4:32

one piece of information each and every

4:34

time and uh eventually I I got all the

4:38

information I needed and I was I was

4:40

ready to do

4:43

[Music]

4:44

it I must have got 2 and 1 half hours

4:48

sleep not much at all I I woke up and uh

4:51

around 3:30 a.m. and then as the sun's

4:53

coming up I exited the hotel I walk

4:57

across the the road and I enter London

4:59

Bridge station all the senses are

5:02

heightened I hear a walkie-talkie

5:04

crackle in in the distance and I go up

5:06

the stairway and I run across uh the

5:11

railway and I get onto climb onto London

5:14

Bridge station I get a suction cup onto

5:16

another level and then I make my way to

5:19

The Shard and started

5:21

climbing halfway up I I look into the

5:24

window and I see a sort of cleaner or

5:27

maintenance worker and he smiles at me

5:28

and he waves at me and I wave back and

5:31

continue climbing and as I'm getting

5:32

higher I'm starting to hear all the

5:35

Sirens from all across London just

5:38

descending upon me helicopters and I'm

5:41

looking down I'm seeing all all the

5:44

police at the bottom and I get to a

5:46

point where I'm above all the buildings

5:48

in London and I really feel um as though

5:52

I have achieved my dream and I continue

5:55

climbing but where I was it was becoming

5:58

quite slippery and I reached just below

6:01

the tip I went inside the uh the

6:03

buildings an open Terrace at the top of

6:04

The Shard upon getting

6:08

inside um I'm met by the

6:12

[Music]

6:14

police after 30 minutes I was let go no

6:18

phone no money and it was rush hour and

6:20

London Bridge I think well actually my

6:24

brother Toby is going to be going to

6:26

work in city of London so I decide to go

6:30

and wait in the midpoint of London

6:33

Bridge George is standing there

6:35

literally in in like shorts like a white

6:38

shirt like um climbing shoes and

6:41

probably had like a little chalk pouch

6:43

and things and I'm like you just climbed

6:45

the sh I was like you need to like make

6:48

sure you go home see your mom and

6:50

everything and then I went to work that

6:51

day and and then by that point it was

6:53

sort of going viral and I remember

6:54

people in the office lit be like oh did

6:56

you hear about the guy who just climbed

6:57

the shot I was like yeah that's that's

6:59

my brother yeah 3 months I was a free

7:02

man but in the background there was this

7:05

court case being built against me and

7:07

then on the 28th of October I go to the

7:12

Royal courts of justice as soon as I

7:13

entered the courtroom I felt the weight

7:16

of the law it was 6 months impr

7:19

prisonment the prison officers said to

7:20

me almost immediately uh that this

7:24

prison is a really tough Nick um be

7:26

careful in here it's a jungle I was like

7:28

okay yeah right let's let's um keep my

7:31

wits about me during the time I was in

7:34

prison I mean there's a lot of time to

7:36

think because you're lots in a Cell

7:38

pretty much all day so there I am I got

7:41

a pen and a paper and I'm just plotting

7:42

down what I need to do next base jumping

7:45

big letters on the piece of paper stick

7:47

on the wall and um I left prison I think

7:51

it was around the 12th of January and

7:53

then it was back to

7:54

work I've done many other stunts jumps

7:58

climbs I wanted the next Shard another

8:01

big

8:03

one I remember like dropping off at the

8:06

bus station when he was about to go to

8:07

the airport and I was literally like I

8:10

was like I kind of the probably first

8:11

time I felt like what if he doesn't come

8:13

back my idea was to climb to the top of

8:18

the building jump off deploy the

8:21

parachute fly to a tennis court land put

8:26

on a different set of clothes get in a

8:28

taxi to the airport that was my plan and

8:32

it didn't go to

8:33

plan and I walked towards LTE tower and

8:37

I'm feeling this humidity in the air and

8:40

it's quite worrying once the Sun's Up I

8:42

go in for the attack and I start

8:45

climbing

8:46

within 5 minutes I am just pouring R

8:52

sweat after 2 and 1 half 3 hours I'm

8:54

spotted by someone who is sleeping in

8:57

their bed in the residential unit of the

8:59

building

9:00

the police all start congregating from

9:03

all different areas of the city and I

9:04

got trapped um halfway out the building

9:07

at the 72nd floor which is 300 M high

9:11

they put this cradle machine which is

9:14

usually used to wash the windows and

9:16

they put it directly in the view of me

9:19

climbing and as I'm getting close to it

9:21

I realized that the I'm in a precarious

9:24

position where I couldn't climb around

9:26

it so I try and get on top of it and in

9:29

that moment the security grabbed me and

9:33

I just kind of submitted to

9:36

defeat I gave my absolute best effort

9:40

but it just was not

9:42

[Music]

9:43

[Applause]

9:47

enough 3 2

9:52

1 what scares me most in life is Regret

9:55

I I fear this idea of being on my

9:59

deathbed and looking back on my life and

10:01

being like I

10:02

regretted not doing this I I don't want

10:06

it to be just limited to trying to do

10:09

the tallest building or the hardest

10:10

building it's trying make it creative

10:13

and new and exciting in that form I mean

10:16

I have a big list of all these different

10:20

projects I don't know when they will

10:22

happen but yes there is something in the

10:25

pipeline yeah

10:28

[Music]