Blaine completes two-day spinning 'gyroscope' stunt

Magician David Blaine completed his latest stunt, escaping from shackles after spending two days in a spinning gyroscope dangling 40 feet above New York's Times Square.

The American illusionist took about 15 minutes to free himself from the padlocks around his waist and feet before leaping from his perch and smashing through the wooden stage beneath him.

Hundreds of members of the public braved chilly temperatures and heavy rain to cheer on the 33-year-old on Thanksgiving Day.

After emerging from the broken platform, Blaine, limping slightly, stopped to talk to fans after the stunt before being driven away in a yellow New York taxi.

As he was wriggling free of his chains Blaine had removed some of his clothes and thrown his jacket into the appreciative crowd.

Before beginning the challenge on Tuesday Blaine said it was going to be more difficult than anything he'd done before.

The gyroscope, made up of three spinning steel rings, could flip him in different directions eight times a minute.

The endurance test, for which he trained by fasting for several days beforehand and braving the elements, was to raise money for the Salvation Army.

Blaine's last major stunt, in May, was cut short when he struggled to escape from chains inside a water-filled sphere in New York.

Though he had planned to hold his breath for a record nine minutes, he had to be pulled free by organisers seven minutes in.

In 2003, he survived for 44 days without food in a glass box suspended by the River Thames in London.