Blaine launches cutting-edge stunt

Blaine shocked journalists by appearing to slice his ear

Performance artist David Blaine staged an unusually bloody media event on Monday to launch his latest UK stunt - a televised 44-day starvation attempt.

Blaine appeared to cut his ear with a penknife when asked to perform "a trick" at a press conference promoting his upcoming endurance challenge.

Apparently screaming in agony, his shirt spattered with blood, he then left the room - and re-emerged a few minutes later to show journalists what looked like a wounded left ear.

However, he did not allow any detailed, close-up inspection - leading to suggestions among some present that the event could have been stage-managed. Blaine himself did not comment.

Blaine, who has been described as a modern-day Houdini, was in London to publicise what he says will be the most dangerous stunt he has ever performed.

Blaine: "I don't fear life and I don't fear death"

On Friday he will climb into a small Perspex box, suspended from a crane above the River Thames, where he will attempt to stay without food for more than six weeks.

He will have no communication or any distractions. His only source of nourishment will be a tube feeding him water.

The stunt will be televised on Channel 4 and Sky One - including live streaming throughout the entire 44 days on Sky.

The enigmatic Blaine, who once encased himself in six tons of ice for three days, said he was risking his life in the name of art and self-exploration.

"I consider it a piece of performance art, and for me the ultimate truth," he said.

"When you are struggling, that is the purest state you could be in."

Asked if he feared he might not survive, he replied: "I don't fear life and I don't fear death. I watched my mother die a very peaceful death. It was beautiful."

Blaine climbed aboard a pod on the London Eye last week

If anything went wrong he wanted to be remembered as "the greatest showman of all time", he said.

"I don't have any feelings about it - that's probably why I am doing it. I want to feel."

The box in which he aims to spend 44 days measures just 7 feet by 7 ft by 3 ft (2.1metres by 2.1m by 0.9m).

It will contain trickling water and a tube for him to urinate - by which doctors will be able to assess his health.

Blaine said he weighed 205 lb (93 kg), having begun an added glucose diet, and expected to lose about 45 lb (20 kg) during more than six weeks without food.

He had chosen the 44-day period because it was "as far as I could possibly go... to feel triumphant".

He refused to disclose what he was being paid but insisted that money was not his motivation. "I could have made the FA Cup disappear in one hour for what I am being paid," he said.

Asked how he felt about being thought of by some people as "nuts", he said: "All my heroes are bonkers."

Sky One will show him going into the box live on 5 September at 2000 BST, with Channel 4 showing the footage three days later at 2200 BST.

His exit will be live on Sky One on 19 October and on Channel 4 on 20 October.