David Blaine, the magician, has set a new world record on the Oprah Winfrey television talkshow in Chicago.

Mr Blaine was suspended in in a water-filled sphere on the show and was hoping to be able to hold his breath for 23 minutes but managed 17 minutes and 4 seconds.  The previous record was 16 minutes 32 seconds, which was set by Peter Colat in Switzerland earlier this year.

Mr Blaine insisted that this was not an illusion or a trick and before the attempt he had spent over 20 minutes inhaling pure oxygen.

He said that he could feel his heart beating irregularly towards the end of the stunt, but said he managed it by staying in a meditative state and the stage lights reflecting off the sphere helped him do this.

After the stunt, Blaine said “I feel great.  I actually started to doubt I was going to make it because I’d never done it with such a high heart rate.”

His assistants said that while he was doing the stunt, his heart rate should have dropped much lower than it actually did.

In 2006, he failed to beat the record of holding his breath under water while escaping from chains at the same time.

He told his host that although he makes his living as a magician, his stunts were about pushing the limits of the human body.