6 FEBRUARY 1926, Page 21

The profession of being a " human fly," Mr. William

Larkin tells us, is both exciting and profitable. In Steeplejacks and Steeplejacking (Jonathan Cape, Os.), he describes a fight with a madman in mid air, how he climbed over the huge cornice of the Nelson Column (the heaviest projection on any monument in Great Britain) and how General Riu stood on his head on the topmost pinnacle of Strasburg Cathedral. This story of real life and uncommon adventure can be read at a sitting ; no one will read it in any other way.