14.Eagle Eye is a movie that definetely knows how to begin, but not how to end. Eddie’s now happily married with two kids Image: the Daily MailĮddie now lives in the quaint village of Woodchester with his wife, Samantha, and his two daughters Ottilie and Honey. Before, I’d never once talked to a woman in a nightclub. She whisked them out! There were also a lot of women in nightclubs when I was doing personal appearances. Sadly, my sister used to run my fan club, so I never saw a lot of those. He told the Daily Mail, “Women used to write to me and say, ‘If you are ever in the Birmingham area, pop over.’ Weird.
Eddie’s had numerous marriage proposals Image: WENNĭespite his awkward looks before all the upgrades, Eddie claims he had lots of interest from the ladies. More: 9 Ways Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq film copies a famous Greek play 12. It’s daft, really, because I can’t see through them, but I don’t like to disappoint.” He told the Daily Mail, “I’ve kept them and I will put them on if people want it. He hasn’t gotten rid of the glasses, however.
To promote his business, a laser eye surgeon performed free surgery on Eddie to correct his farsightedness, so he no longer needs those Coke-bottle glasses. He also traveled to Budapest to have his teeth done. Known for having a prominent chin, a dentist reset Eddie’s lower jaw and realigned his bite so it no longer juts out. Piste is the French word for ski trail or run. Eddie wrote a book in 1999 Image: AmazonĮdwards released a book (and a video) called On the Piste with Eddie Edwards. Their underdog story was immortalized in the film Cool Runnings.
In 2008, Edwards returned to Calgary to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1988 game and did a zip line with Devon Harris from the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team. Eddie rode a zip line with a member of the Jamaican bobsled team Image: the Daily Mail More: Everest : Rob Hall’s wife Jan Arnold reveals her feelings about the film 8. His kids adored Cool Runnings and he thought they would also love Eddie the Eagle, so he gave the film a green light. Movie producer Matthew Vaughn showed his kids the film Cool Runnings, about the Jamaican bobsled team who were another group of athletic underdogs, also from the 1988 Olympics. Cool Runnings inspired producer to make Eddie the Eagle Image: Disney Torchbearer in 2010 Image: The StarĮdwards dutifully carried the Olympic torch relay in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. At one point, the piece of string holding his helmet together broke and it bounced off his head into the trees. Jumped in secondhand gearīecause he had no money and no sponsors, Eddie collected most of his ski gear from the lost and found. Lived briefly in a Finnish mental asylumĮddie wasn’t mentally ill, but rather, the asylum had the cheapest room and that was all he could afford. Magoo,” “ski dropper,” “Inspector Clouseau on skis,” “Abominable Snowman” and “Unsteady Eddie.” However, it was at the Winter Olympics’ closing ceremony when the president of the organizing committee, Frank King, said, “At these Games, some competitors have won gold, some have broken records and some of you have even soared like an eagle,” clearly referring to Eddie, who’s been known as Eddie the Eagle ever since. His glasses often fogged up beneath his goggles, rendering him nearly blind during his jumps. Extremely farsighted Image: 20th Century Foxĭue to vision problems, Edwards was forced to wear eyeglasses at all times. More: 11 Facts about the tragic Everest climb not in the movie 2. The fact that he was 20 pounds heavier than the average ski jumper did not deter him. When Edwards failed to make his country’s downhill ski team in the 1984 Olympics, he turned his focus to ski jumping to follow his Olympic dream, since there were no other ski jumpers competing on behalf of Great Britain. Eddie started as a pretty decent downhill skier