wOrld's cRaziest sTunts

Forget bikes, or cars or lorries. When stuntman Doug Danger dices with death, he goes large - the 160ft wingspan of a passenger jet, to be precise. And he makes it look easy, reaching the pre-calculated speed of 73mph before launching himself off a 120ft narrow ramp, straight up and over the parked plane.

It's not the usual school run - flying 109ft, over 15 motorcycles and through a giant fireball before crashing to earth. But driver Steve Hudis was delighted to break a world record in his yellow bus at this stunt filmed in Las Vegas. Oh yes, and there were no children on board.

As world records go, being dragged along a pavement at 236mph by a 14,000-horsepower jet-car for a quarter of a mile isn't one most of us are likely to challenge. But stuntmen Reno Jaton was delighted with his achievement, despite being a little singed by flames by the end of his ordeal.

A truck alone wasn't enough to guarantee Strongman Tom Owen a proper work-out. So he insisted it was loaded with 20 children, before he allowed it to park on his stomach. The result? A thumbs up for the crowd minutes after, then a trip to hospital with a couple of broken ribs and internal bleeding.

John Richmond claims to have shot his brother Ken more than 100 times: in the chest, face and on top of his head. Here, he has another pop at him - from 25ft, aiming not for Ken, but for the watermelon on his head and knowing that a quarter of an inch off target will mean death. Happily, both live to see another day.

Granny Mary Ella McLivain, 52, wears just a sun dress instead of protective harnesses as she strides across the wing of a biplane, 1,000ft in the air above Vancouver. Why? She was a secretary, but was tired of being deskbound.

Dennis Pinto from North Carolina knew that powering a motorbike at 60mph into the side of a parked van would send him pleasingly airborne. But he wanted a bit more excitement than that. So he popped on a flame-retardant outfit and set himself on fire. Amazingly, he landed on a pile of cardboard boxes, unhurt.

Despite the shattering impact - the equivalent of hitting a brick wall at 120mph - both crash drivers walked away uninjured before a crowd of 55,000 at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. They owe their lives to incredibly strong strapping, special crash protectors, and a good dose of luck.

Alain Robert , known as 'French Spiderman' always insists on the best possible view and is happy to scale some of the world's most teetering skyscrapers to secure it. One of his latest visits was at the 185 metre-high Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Building and, opting for the al fresco route, scuttled up the 35 storeys in a record 63 minutes, as tens of thousands of spectators craned their necks far below. He has also been in Hong Kong, Madrid and many other buildings around the world.

For escape artist Rick Meisel to get clean away he must negotiate his way out of six pairs of handcuffs and two leg irons, while trying not to drown in a soap-filled, spinning, washing machine. And he takes his 'art' very seriously. He has had himself surgically altered in order to fit better into the machine.