Dropping in for a world record

A professional stuntman has set a new world record by abseiling from the top of the 117-metre Centre Point building in 8.9 seconds.

Hundreds watched open-mouthed as the Royal Marines reservist took the plunge from the top of the central London landmark.

Mr Truglia, who lives in east London and is single, said: "I just wanted to see how far I could push it in terms of length and speed while keeping it safe. Abseiling can be fraught with technical difficulties.

"But on the day it was fantastic and there was a huge crowd. It was a beautiful experience and an amazing view - it was fantastic just being suspended up there."

Mr Truglia has been a professional stuntman for five years and performed in Bond movies The World Is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies as well as Steven Spielberg's Second World War drama Saving Private Ryan.

He added: "I have done a lot of abseiling with the Army and I've done over 1,000 parachute jumps. There's a bit of tension beforehand but once you're going you get a tunnel vision. I know I won't panic. These things actually feel like they're going quite slowly."

He dismissed any suggestion that his stunts are of the "extreme" variety. "I'm a professional stunt co-ordinator and performer. I did this to get the record."

The stuntman, who was seen last year in Channel 4 drama Hollyoaks, did encounter a surprise gust of wind on his descent yesterday. He said: "As soon as I started to abseil, this gust of wind caught me and I was well off course for my landing rig."

Fortunately, he had taken the precaution of putting his cable through the centre of the landing rig and was able to complete the descent safely.