The Shard Climber talks perseverance, preparation and the possibility of death

“I want to live. I want to be around for the people in my life. But to have that control, I need to accept the possibility of death.”

Those are the words of George King, better known as the Shard Climber, in an exclusive interview with The Independent.

At just nineteen, he shocked London, and the world, by free-climbing the Shard, Western Europe’s tallest skyscraper, in 2020. The ascent stopped traffic and set off a global media frenzy.

But the feat came at a steep cost: a six-month jail sentence.

Watch Independent Studio’s latest episode of Unheard here.