Blaine will have to fast for 50 days to beat Professor Arnold Ehret or 76 days to beat  'The Heavenly Man' Brother Yun in China

"Keep Blaine Sane" - "The yank in a tank"

The David Blaine stunt caused major traffic chaos around the Tower Bridge area.

During the first week David Blaine has been subjected to verbal abuse and a torrent of distractions including, golf balls, eggs and food of all shapes and smells.  This has truly become a baiting game between the huge crowds that gather underneath the glass box and the 'street magician'.  Will he survive 44 days of torment?

During the second week the Blaine Box has been sabotaged and his water supply temporarily cut-off.  London is enjoying an Indian Summer and it so hot the box has had to covered to protect David Blaine from the sun.  Meanwhile he is being subjected to abuse from the crowds gathering below and from the media globally.  Blaine bating has become a new national sport! Even Sir Paul McCartney of Beatles fame popped along to see the spectacle.

David Blaine enters the clear box that will be his home, suspended over the River Thames in London, close to Tower Bridge, for 44 days.

• Day One photos & commentary here

David Blaine, 30, begun the endurance test during a TV special that started at 8.30pm BST (19:30 GMT) on 5th September and will survive on water fed through a tube, appealed to Londoners to cheer him on as he enters the Plexiglass box at Potters Fields Park near Tower Bridge in the centre of London, England.

• For details of the location see here

David Blaine said: "For people who are sceptical, we will have taps from the water so you can check there are no nutrients in it."

David Blaine, the magician said it was "irrelevant" that the Guinness Book of Records refused to endorse his fasting attempt and dismissed Mayor Ken Livingstone's claim it was offensive to relatives of IRA hunger strikers. "I thought that was funny," Blaine said.

Blaine, saying goodbye to model girlfriend Manon Von Gerkan, declared: "I am putting together last minute things, trying to remember to take the right baby wipes."

Earlier this week magician and endurance artist David Blaine has turned to sleight of hand, apparently lopping off part of his ear in front of reporters.

The stunt took place on Monday during a news conference to promote Blaine's latest feat, a six-week stint in a plastic box suspended above the River Thames.

David Blaine, a 30-year-old New Yorker appeared to hack at his ear with a knife after a reporter asked him to perform a trick. Blaine left the news conference with blood apparently streaming from his head and returned to show an ear that looked like it was missing a chunk.

David Blaine, has previously has encased himself in ice for three days and spent 35 hours standing atop a 100-foot pole, plans to enter a plastic box suspended from a crane 40 feet above the Thames on Friday  5th September. Blaine's goal is to remain there, consuming only water, for 44 days.

David Blaine told reporters the box would contain only "some diapers (nappies), a journal (diary), some pens and some lip balm pretty much."

• Other Famous Fast here