Blaine in the box

American illusionist David Blaine started his toughest endurance challenge yet tonight – spending 44 days and nights suspended in a clear plastic box with nothing but water to sustain him.

The self-styled modern-day Houdini from New York is planning to live for six weeks in a plastic box measuring 7ft deep, 7ft long and 3ft wide, with no distraction, communication or food while dangling precariously over the river Thames in London.

Blaine, 30, entered his tiny temporary home suspended between Tower Bridge and the Greater London Assembly building at Potters Field Park at 9.27pm and is not now due to emerge until Sunday October 19 at 9pm.

“I’m not worried about the first three weeks, I’m worried about the second half of this when I start to lose my mind and everything gets really bad,” Blaine said shortly before entering the box.