Quotes from Eddie the Eagle

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.

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

I was living on a loaf of bread a week.

Some people thought I was bringing the sport down. I don't think so. I was the best and only jumper my country had.

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

It was while I was in the mental hospital that I got my letter from the British Olympic Association saying, 'Congratulations. You've been picked to go to the Olympic Games.' I kept stressing I wasn't a patient.

Resilience can go an awful long way.

The only airline I avoid like the plague is Ryanair. I don't like that, when you book, there are then all of these little extras to pay for, and you end up paying more than just flying with British Airways.

I can't explain my popularity. I suppose I'm just an ordinary bloke, and a lot of people see a little bit of Eddie in themselves.

The press portrayed me as a joke and a clown.

I'm a positive person who likes to have fun and get the best out of every day.

I've got two daughters of my own, and I loved watching my children grow up.

The failures are the people who never get off their bums.

I did a tandem parachute jump when I opened a golf course in Atlanta, Georgia. I jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet to land on the first tee, and then I played a couple of holes with golfer Arnold Palmer. That was brilliant.

My dentist said my teeth were wearing away at the back because I couldn't bite. My top jaw was broken and brought forward, and my bottom jaw was broken and put back.

I was a latchkey kid. Every afternoon, I would walk home from school, let myself in, make myself a banana buttie, and watch telly until Mum came home.

I like nothing more than walking down a country lane or along a mountain path - it's not proof that there is anything bigger than ourselves, but I feel very much at peace.

Americans are very much 'Win! Win! Win!' In England, we don't give a fig whether you win. It's great if you do, but we appreciate those who don't.

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

Some people thought I wasn't taking the sport seriously because I was always laughing and having fun, but I loved my skiing, I loved my jumping, and I thought, 'Well, why not have a smile on my face when I'm doing something that I really, really love doing,' and that's how I was.

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

I'm the Eagle: I can fly.

I'm not frightened of death.

My mother looked after me full-time when I was young, but as soon as I started school, she got a job in an office.