THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
Born Alfredo Nock in the Argau canton in Switzerland, he was always known as Freddy, to differentiate him from his father, who had the same name.
His mother was Margrith Gautschi.
His father’s family had established the first circus in Switzerland in 1840 and were still in the business. Known as the ‘Nerveless Nocks’ they had wowed the USA in 1954, when they appeared as part of ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ (the Ringling Barnum Bailey Circus).
In 1964, the Nerveless Nocks had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show – in the same programme as The Beatles.
Freddy’s great-uncle, Pio Nock, was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame.
When appearing at Madison Square Garden, Pio once fell six metres from a highwire into a cage of seventeen lions. His life was saved by a lion tamer, who rescued him just as the animals were about to attack.
Alfredo Senior and Margrith were both tightrope walkers in the circus.
They began to teach their son, Freddy, the tricks of the trade. His first tightrope walk was at the age of four, on a rope suspended between two high-backed chairs.
By the age of eleven, Freddy was performing for his father’s circus (a separate business from the family owned Zirkus Nock).
When that closed, Freddy worked for his aunt.
Freddy performed tricks such as balancing over a lion’s cage, riding a motorcycle at high speed with an iron ball attached, and shooting apples off people’s heads with a crossbow.
At eighteen, Freddy suffered his only serious injury when he fell from a tightrope, breaking both wrists. He admitted he had lost his concentration, distracted by a pretty blonde lady sitting in the front row of the audience. He never made that mistake again.
Freddy was an extremely handsome man – ‘film star looks’. He married Brigitte and they had four daughters: Stephanie, Melanie, Kimberley and Annaliese.
In 1994, when Freddy was thirty, he won the Silver Clown (second prize) at the Circus Oscars held in Monte Carlo.
He was super-fit and trained for hours. He practised falling off the wire, learning how to grab it as he fell – “Just in case.”
Freddy first entered the Guinness Book of World Records after running 734 metres up the rope of a cable car at St Moritz.
After that, Freddy set many other world records. He completed the fastest sky walk between two hot air balloons, the longest cable walk (3.5km), the longest time running on a Wheel of Death (25 hours) and the longest time sat continuously on a chair whilst balanced on a high-wire (8 hours, 30 minutes, 55 seconds).
He broke tightrope records blindfold, riding a bicycle, going backwards in gale force winds and many at faster speeds or greater heights. His motto was, ‘The Sky is the Limit’.
Most of the money raised from his stunts went to charity.
Freddy also rode Motorradkug (Death Bullet), where seven men drove motorbikes at top speed whilst in a spherical cage, missing each other by inches. It had to be meticulously choreographed.
It seemed Freddy knew no fear. “You can’t live your life just focusing on all the dangers. Death is a part of life and when your time is up, it’s up.”
Nevertheless, Freddy was terrified of flying and would not swim in the sea due to a fear of sharks.
Freddy and his wife Brigitte were divorced. Shortly afterwards, she took him to court for not paying any alimony. Brigitte said she had to work as a cleaning lady in order to bring up their daughters.
In 2013, Freddy fell off a wire, whilst climbing a cable car on Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain. He was 3,264 feet above sea level.
Fortunately, all his years of training paid off. He managed to catch hold of the wire and haul himself to safety, using the immense strength in his arms.
This achievement won him the Swiss Award for Show Business. At the presentation, Freddy burst into tears. “I had to cry, not because of the award but because of my sad divorce.”
However, that same year he was remarried to a Chilean national who had become a businesswoman in Switzerland. She was called Ximena Salterman (nee Gonzales).
Her former husband, Hans-Peter Solterman, had been a close friend of Freddy’s. Ximena had been working for him when their relationship started.
Solterman cited Freddy in his divorce case.
Freddy and Ximena got married in a sculpture park. The ceremony was unusual. “It was always my dream to get married on a tightrope. Ximena’s dream was to get married in white. We fulfilled all of that.”
They were married on a tightrope nine metres above the ground.
They had one son, Leo.
Two years later, Freddy undertook his most famous stunt.
The world record for the highest tightrope walk had been set on August 7th 1974, when Frenchman, Philippe Petit, famously walked a wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York (1,350 feet high). It was called ‘The Artistic Crime of the Century’.
Petit was arrested by the NYPD (New York Police Department) upon completing the walk but was released on the condition that he did a free high-wire show for children in Central Park.
Freddy strung a 349 metre wire between two of Switzerland’s Alpine peaks, Biancograt and Piz Previous. It was no thicker than an adult thumb. He walked at 3531 metres above sea level.
Afterwards, he was asked how he did his walks, never using safety nets, rarely using balancing poles. “Not much goes through my head. I just take another step and when I feel comfortable, I start looking to the left and right and see what’s happening around me.”
Shortly afterwards, Ximena moved out of the family home, taking their son, Leo, with her.
Freddy was promptly arrested and charged with having tried to murder his wife. The case came to court.
Ximena claimed Freddy had put a pillow over her face and tried to suffocate her.
His defence lawyer admitted theirs was a “Wild Marriage”. He also stated it was a toxic relationship characterised by violence. The police had been called to the house on many occasions.
Freddy was found guilty of ‘Attempted Intentional Homicide’. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
His daughters immediately launched a campaign to have their father released. They said he was not a violent man and there was no evidence to have Freddy convicted.
Freddy appealed – and another judge totally exonerated him. He was released after ten months in prison and awarded 23,000 Swiss Francs, as damages for false imprisonment and loss of earnings.
In an interview, Freddy was asked what he wished for now. He said he just wanted Ximena to come back to him. “I love her more than anything.”
However, Freddy started working with his six-year old son, Leo, teaching him the basics of tightrope walking.
Freddy was planning to beat his own record for tightrope walking at height, when he was found dead at home.
His daughter, Kimberley, said Freddy had died of a broken heart. The real cause of his death is unknown but there were no suspicious circumstances.
Another tightrope walker, Hungarian Laszlo Simet Junior (who has just become the first person to walk across the River Danube without a safety net), said, “I see Freddy as the best of all of us, the greatest high-wire walker of all time.”
Two of Freddy’s daughters, Stephanie and Annaliese, have become tightrope walkers and stunt performers in their own right.
Other family members keep performing as Nerveless Nocks – and recently made an appearance on ‘America’s Got Talent’.
RIP – Rope Involves (no) Protection
