He won’t say where – and who can blame him? But 37 year old Frenchman Alain Robert – otherwise known as Spiderman - is London bound. For the man who has climbed, unattached, the world’s highest skyscrapers including the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, is coming to a high building near you soon.

Big Ben? "I have looked at it", Robert replies with an impish grin on his face, "but it is too small." Nelson’s column? "Well, the idea of a Frenchman standing at the top of that particular monument is appealing to me for reasons which you can well imagine – but no – it will be all quiet at Trafalgar Square. Canary Wharf? "Been there, done that", replies the tiny but extremely muscular father of three, referring to his well-publicised climb five years ago. "I’m sorry but I can’t tell you where – otherwise I will have all sorts of problems with the police and security people."

Sitting in a bar in the sleepy village of Pezenas in the sunny south of France, Spiderman is the first to admit that he has an addictive personality. Although were he to start his own support group (Spiders Anonymous?) one can hardly imagine many people flocking to the inaugural meeting.

"I am a gambler and I like to gamble with my life. I climb with my bare hands and I absolutely refuse to wear safety devices of any kind. If I make a mistake, then I am prepared to pay the price – the death penalty. I also know that when you gamble so much, then the chances are that one day you are going to lose. But I can’t help myself – I need the fix, I need the climb."

And what might 5 year old Lucas, 10 year old Hugo and 12 year old Julien have to say about his rather unconventional way of bringing back the daily baguette? Not to mention his wife Nicole.

"Well, the boys don’t like to talk about it too much", Robert replies. "They recently refused to take part in a television documentary about me because they didn’t want to expose their feelings. There is a sort of unspoken agreement with my wife. I’m not saying she doesn’t get frightened – but she does respect what I do."

So are there emotional scenes and fond farewells each and every time Spiderman sets off for work? Not at all – simply a few repetitions of their time-honoured mantra ‘fais attention’ – take care.

What then might be the winnings for this man who makes it his daily business to flirt with death? Certainly it appears to be little to do with money, Robert insisting that although issues of sponsorship have to be dealt with he is supremely uninterested in what the French refer to as ‘le fric’.

"Winning is the feeling of triumph. Of doing what I want to do. I am lucky enough to be able to pursue my dream. If other people don’t approve of it, that doesn’t bother me - it’s not their dream. Is it exciting to be close to falling? Because this has happened to me hundreds of times. Not at the time, no. But afterwards, yes. It is as if you are being reborn again and again and again."

Far be it from a humble journalist to attempt to bring that dream to an end. But having climbed some 50 skyscrapers, surely there is nothing left to prove. This is the point when you realise that you are not on the same wavelength as the mild-mannered and affable Robert, for it is now his turn to look at his interlocutor with incredulity. "No, no, not all – I haven’t done the Jin Mao building in Shanghai, the world’s third tallest building. And there are plans afoot to build even bigger skyscrapers in China. So I am certainly not ready to stop. It’s not even on the agenda. Nor am I sure that such a time will come prior to my death."

He might well have climbed the Citicorp building in Chicago and the Empire State building in New York. But he almost came a cropper at the modest 3-story building in the shape of the town hall in the city of Pau. Caught up in the atmosphere of the crowd, the celebrity climber couldn’t turn the challenge and proceeded to scale its walls without his specially adapted climbing shoes. Only to find, barely 3 meters up, that there was no good edging into which he could dig his hands and feet. The surface was also far too slippery for him to be able to proceed. Upon which Spiderman promptly slid down. But as something of an old hand in dealing with the press he knew that he could not allow the modest Mairie of Pau to defeat him. So one change of clothes and shoes later, he was soon clawing his way back up to the top.

The sun has been shining. Glasses of champagne flowing thick and fast. And so finally I summons the courage to say what’s really on my mind.

"Forgive me, Spiderman, but is it not the case that you are really a little crazy? You know, a screw, as it were, un petit peu loose?"

"What I do know is that if you ask a person who is really mad if he is indeed mad, he will almost certainly say that he is not. I don’t think that I am crazy, but then again who am I to judge? All I can tell you is what I think. And I think that there is only one crazy thing in life – and that is not to pursue your dream."