I always say my first job is my building trade. The rest comes and goes.

You've got to think life can give you some bad knocks; no matter how hard you're knocked, you've got to get up.

I was the best ski jumper in the United Kingdom.

I was like the George Clooney of the ski business.

It's not been a bad life, and I do know that I could never have been a world champion. All I ever wanted to do was be the best I could with what I had, which wasn't very much, really. And that's what I think I did.

In the right circumstances, terror is good. It makes you focus.

I was an expert skier who set his sights on going to the 1988 Olympics in Canada to represent Britain, and went from novice ramps to the 120-metre jump in five months. That's possible only with utter focus.

I've fractured my skull twice, damaged a kidney, snapped a cruciate ligament in my knee, and broken all manner of bones, including my jaw. And I count myself very lucky it hasn't been worse!

Sport on TV is so boring.

Ski jumping is just 10 per cent physical, 90 per cent mental. Some people can't do that. It's not just to do with the fear at the top. It takes a lot of guts to go off the top, but it takes 100 times more courage to jump off the end.

People say I wasn't a real athlete, but I trained hard. It's possible to take something seriously and still have fun at it, you know.

I think because I'm so naturally happy and unaffected and open, people thought I didn't take the jumping seriously. You're up that high, believe me - you take it very seriously.

When people make fun, it doesn't bother me. I've always enjoyed a laugh.

When I trained with the Japanese team, there we'd be singing Oasis songs at the top of our voices at the top of the jumps. People thought we were daft.

The FIS, BSF, and British Olympic Association have been trying to stop me competing internationally. They don't like the fact that I laugh and have fun and entertain the crowd.

I won't win a World Cup, and I won't win the Olympics, but I'm sure I can compete with the best, and that's what I want to show.

I always know that people will only remember me for my efforts in Calgary which, I must admit, seem without doubt to have kept the name alive. But I honestly love law and really hope it can take off for me. I'm going for it.

I've hated poetry ever since I was at school. I include Shakespeare in that. I don't understand the obsession with him!

The births of my two girls were wonderful - I felt proud to have helped bring new life into this world.

I wore No. 24 at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada - one bib on the back and one on the front - and those are like my medals.

I was living on a loaf of bread a week.

I liked being Eddie the Eagle, but I also like being Michael Edwards, plasterer and general builder.

For me, I was never someone who wanted to hold on to the celebrity image.

I don't regard myself as an entertainer. I don't think that's where my talents lie. It always feels a bit uncomfortable.