If you're not doing anything more exciting, you can see him escape from a maximum security straitjacket in Ormskirk on 29 October, before he attempts three other escapes across the country on the same day! It's all part of a day of events taking place all over the world by escape artists to mark the anniversary of Houdini’s death and raise awareness of the art. We asked Roslyn to tell us more... How did you get into escapology? How does someone go about learning about it? "I've always had an interest in people being able to get out of sticky situations. Not just on stage, but in real life. Old war stories of people escaping prison camps for example. But as a kid, getting tied up isn't really the kind of thing that gets encouraged, so at the age of 14 I joined Circus Maniacs a youth circus school in Kingswood, Bristol. Here I learnt things like trapeze, stilt walking and juggling and also had the chance to perform.
It was from here that I got the chance to train as a cocktail bartender with TGI Fridays. These skills then took me to Germany where I worked in bars and nightclubs performing flair (bottle juggling). Since the town I was in was quite small it got to the point where everybody knew what I did and had seen it, so I decided to try and come up with something different. So I bought a straitjacket and taught myself how to escape from it.
The escape went down really well and by the time I returned to the UK the juggling and flair had gone out the window and now I just perform escapes." Will you be doing different escapes throughout the day? How will they differ? "Yes I'll be doing different escapes. I'll be attempting an escape from a maximum security posey straitjacket, two pairs of British regulation police handcuffs, a pair of regulation police handcuffs from the USA that will be connected to a transport belt and covered with a transport jacket that is used for transporting high risk prisoners in the US and finally I'll be attempting my version of the Chrysalis, which is tipped to be the unluckiest escape in history." What can people expect to see you do in Ormskirk? "I'll be making my first escape attempt from the maximum security straitjacket in the centre of Ormskirk at 10am on Saturday 29 October 2005. It is completely free for all to see as it will be done on the street. I'm hoping the rain will have died off by then because if the canvas gets wet it will make the escape far more difficult than it already is!" What's the most dangerous/scariest escape you've ever performed? "So far the scariest escape I've done is an underwater straitjacket. If you have ever swum in clothes before you'll know how hard it is to take them off once wet. Now imagine that you're weighted at the bottom of a pool and you're wrapped in canvas with no air except what you took in before being submerged! My first thought once under was "what the hell am I doing?", I won't be doing that one again in a hurry! "The Chrysalis escape planned for Bristol will take its place though. I'll be strapped into a punishment belt, which has lots of padlocks, a couple of arm clamps and a pair of the heaviest handcuffs in use today made in Germany. I'll then have a plastic bag placed over my head which wll be secured in place with a slave collar and I'll be wrapped with chain before being placed into a regulation bodybag, which will then be secured with a padlock.
The bodybag is air tight and I'll have about eight minutes to make my escape. A previous attempt at the Chrysalis by Australian escape artist Roger MacKenzie resulted in his death." Anything ever gone wrong? "Nothing serious, touch wood. I was almost caught out a couple of weeks ago when attempting a double straitjacket escape. I had never performed the escape before and the audience assistant that strapped me in happened to have experience with straitjackets and decided it would be funny to tie knots in the straps. It took me over seven minutes to get out. Obviously there are certain things that I can't keep control of, padlocks sieze and handcuffs jam. Which is not a good thing when trapped inside an air tight bodybag." And finally... Are you a bit mad? "I do what I do for similar reasons as a racing driver loves driving fast or sky divers need to jump out that little bit higher than last time. The buzz is amazing. Many people think that escaping from stuff is just another magic trick. Part of the reason for doing this is to show people that escapology is still alive and that it is real. I'm not a magician, I can't even do card tricks. Its origins stem from sideshows, freakshows and circuses, rather than from magic. But I guess you do to be a little bit mad. Especially when it comes to the dangerous stuff." Remember kids - don't try this at home! | 
