Freddy Nock came from the Nock circus family and achieved several world records with his performances on the high wire.
This year, Nock intended to set new standards with a high-wire stunt world record attempt at an altitude of between 5,000 and 10,000 metres above sea level.
Nock was looking for the “ultimate challenge for body and mind” in his stunts and is constantly pushing the boundaries further and further, according to his website.
A trial against Nock caused quite a stir in the media in November 2020. The Aargau High Court acquitted Nock of the charge of attempting to deliberately kill his wife. The district court of Zofingen had previously sentenced him to a partial prison sentence of 2.5 years.
During the hearings before the district court and the high court, it became clear that Nock and his wife had a difficult relationship that was also characterised by violence. Nock’s defence lawyer spoke of a “toxic relationship” and “a wild marriage”. The police had to visit his home several times.
The High Court awarded him CHF11,000 in damages and CHF12,000 in compensation for loss of earnings. The artist had several performances cancelled as a result of the proceedings.
More
More
Wind defeats record-breaking tightrope walker
This content was published on
Nock, who never uses safety harnesses, had already tried once on Saturday, making it 400 metres across the lake in canton Bern before deciding the wind speeds were too high. He considered it again on Sunday but the weather conditions hadn’t improved. He had been trying to break seven world records in seven days. Lake…
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Abroad
An eye-opening guide to Switzerland’s ear-splitting sirens
Science alliance warns against Swiss government’s cost-cutting plans
This content was published on
An alliance of research and science institutions have warned of dire consequences if the Swiss government goes ahead with its austerity package.
Accidents during leisure time on the rise in Switzerland
This content was published on
IN 2024 more people had accidents during leisure time than in the previous year. Some 26% of all sports accidents happened playing football.
This content was published on
Apple's iPhones have gained further market share in Switzerland. Around half of all smartphone owners used a model from the US tech giant last year.
Switzerland receives poor marks in fight against public sector corruption
This content was published on
Switzerland is not improving in the fight against corruption according to the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International.
Swiss army identifies gaps in civil aircraft collision warning system
This content was published on
The Cyber-Defence Campus of the Swiss defence ministry has found two vulnerabilities in the collision warning system for civil aviation.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.