DAN WITCHALLS is a legend in the world of BASE jumping. His career highlights to date include winning the Base Jump Extreme World Championship in Benidorm, Spain in June 2011 which was the first time this title has been achieved by an Englishman. Although there are base jumpers around the world who have jumped more than him there are no base jumpers who have jumped as many buildings as him.

However, what sets Dan Witchalls aside from the rest in the world of base jumping is his outright brazenness and ability to deceive some of the top security teams across London. He’s hit the national papers for jumping from The Shard four times as well as numerous other high profile buildings in the capital.

When we talked to Dan he described in detail his riskiest jump from The Shard and opened up about his life and how his passion for base jumping began.

How did you get involved in parachuting and base jumping and who and what were your influences?

I did my first parachute jump aged 17, a static-line jump, a weekend course from 2,500ft. Purely out of curiosity. Me and a couple of friends did an AFF (Accelerated Freefall) skydiving course in Florida in 1996 – we incorporated it into a two-week partying holiday. Again, purely out of curiosity and the desire to experience freefall (usually from 13-14,000ft).

So 450 skydives later I went to watch a couple of friends do a base jump one night, one offered to teach me – I declined his kind offer, but after watching a few more I decided to do just one – purely out of curiosity… (That was nearly 1,500 jumps ago).

I wouldn’t say anyone has really influenced me although I do try to be like the jumpers who have been jumping a while and are still alive!

You filmed yourself parachuting off The Shard, London four times in one night. This all went unnoticed by the guards and without any suspicion. How did you do it and could you relay some of the details of that night?

Four times in one night? It was 4 times, but on four separate occasions over an 18-month period. Got away clean every time, partly to do with doing it solo and in the very early hours. I can’t tell you exactly how I managed this extraordinary feat but suffice to say I spent a lot of time ‘scoping’ out the site as far as cameras, guards, motion sensors, etc go.

Luck played a large part during my fourth jump there; infiltration into the site went perfectly, was sneaking up the stairs, on about floor 55 I passed a desk with an open newspaper on – mmm, strange; I carried on another flight of stairs only to met by a locked door. Then I heard footsteps, I froze – trying to blend into the locked door – footsteps got closer, suddenly a security guard walked straight in front of me, maybe eight feet away, fortunately he was looking ahead, a glance to his left and he would have been looking right at me. He passed by me, disappeared out of sight and sat down at his desk.

What do I do now? No way up, the way down is past the guard. My mind raced desperately searching for a solution to my situation.

I could approach him and try to bluff it out – but at 4.30am on a Sunday morning doubtful I would get away with it.
What are my options I thought to myself?

Well, what do most security guards do on a night shift? Answer, sleep; so I waited, hardly daring to breath. Five minutes, ten minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, then the sound I was waiting for zzzzz snoring.

I will give him five more minutes to be fully asleep then go for it. Five minutes passed, just as I stepped out he stirred – I stepped back, he didn’t see me.

Heart racing, I elected to give him five more minutes, if he didn’t go back to sleep I would attempt to front it out (or bribery).
Two minutes later – snoring, I silently crept out, passed within 1ft of him, down the stairs to the floor below, found the place to jump from, jumped and got clean away – f*cking unbelievable!

You won the Base Jump Extreme World Championship in Benidorm, Spain in June 2011, which was the first time ever this title has been achieved by an English jumper. How did it feel to win, what made you stand out from the rest and how did you celebrate afterwards?

Successfully completing any base jump is an amazing feeling; buildings are extra special seeing as they are the most difficult, dangerous and most seldom done.

To become world champion in any sport is quite something, so add all these factors together and you can imagine I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

What made it all the sweeter was that the two jumpers I beat into second and third places were undoubtedly two of the best in the world.

What made me stand out from the rest? Performing well under pressure!

In the final of four jumpers I went last, the two before me hit the centre of the target. I had to nail dead centre to win – I did! A beer or two was consumed that night.

What other achievements would you say rank as some of your greatest?

Being the first to do something always carries the most kudos and respect; first man on the moon, first to climb Everest etc. So jumping an object (or opening it) as we say gives you huge satisfaction and sense of achievement.

The Shard, Wembley Stadium, O2 Arena are just a few of my conquests. The Cheesegrater (a new office building in London) is one of my most satisfying jumps. When it was under construction the security team on-site made up a wanted poster of me with my photo on and put it up all over the site. It was well known that I had jumped The Shard several times http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4254088/Daredevil-jumps-off-The-Shard-four-times.html and they were determined I didn’t jump their building. I considered this a challenge, so when I jumped it and got clean away I was absolutely delighted http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5706245/Brit-daredevil-base-jumper-plunged-738ft-off-Cheese-Grater.html

Although there are jumpers around the world with more base jumps than me, there are none with more different objects (415) and certainly none with more different buildings (175).

Apart from that I would say that still being alive after all the different jumps I have done over the last 15 years is quite an achievement.

It’s obviously a dangerous sport that you partake in. Have you had any close shaves and what do you do to ensure as much safety as possible?

Base jumping is dangerous. No doubt about that, probably the most dangerous sport that is.

As I always say to my friends before every jump “don’t f*ck it up!” and you will be fine. If you do f*ck up – be lucky; the best sort of base jumper to be is a lucky base jumper. If you f*ck up and you are unlucky then you better be tough…

One night jumping a building in London my parachute opened facing the building (a 180), and I hit it! As I bounced off I managed to turn the parachute away, landed on the sloped roof of a building opposite and nearly slid of the edge. Fortunately I stopped just before the edge, composed myself and climbed down – lucky…

What does the rest of 2015 have in store for you? Any exciting projects lined up?

My most exciting project for 2015 is the birth of my second child (baby Viking #2), as scary, exciting and rewarding as any base jump!

Then various events around the world, the world championship again, more wing suit jumps and plus there’s always something interesting to do in London (my playground).

You are a roofer by trade so how do you manage to fit the base jumping around your working life and do you have friends and family there to support you?

As a roofer in London I have a bird’s eye view (literally) of anything that’s tall enough to jump from; cranes, towers, gas towers, antennas, scaffolds and of course buildings. Plus being used to climbing ladders, working on building sites and roofs means that I am quite at home in the urban environment.

When my business is busy it can be difficult to find the time to jump, but being my own boss giving myself time off to go on trips is normally no problem.

Plus being a part time dolphin trainer takes up a lot of my spare time.

Do my wife and family support me jumping? Let’s just say they tolerate it.

Nowadays most of my friends are base jumpers anyway.

If our readers hadn’t got some idea already, what in your own words makes you ‘Dan The Man’?

What makes me Dan the Man? That’s really for other people to say rather than me. Lots of people want to be the man, some claim to be the man, but at the end of the day actions speak louder than words.