Dare-devil Eddie

EDDIE KIDD had it all. Handsome, talented, rich, his daring motorcycle exploits made him a household name across the UK and gave him an extravagant and envied lifestyle. One day, disaster struck.

Published: Sat 31 Mar 2007, 11:00 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 8:47 PM

One of Eddie's dare-devil jumps ended in a terrible collision. He nearly lost his life. Now he is consigned to a wheelchair.

Kidd was a top stunt rider in his prime, winning the stunt bike world championship in 1993 over Robbie Knievel, son of Evel Knievel. He also jumped the Great Wall of China at Simatai in 1993, the only person in the world to undertake the jump.

Kidd has done bike stunts in several movies, acting as a double for Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights, Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye and Roger Moore in Bull's Eye, as well as, Michael Caine, Michael Douglas, among other celebrities.

Kidd was injured at a Hell's Angels rally in Warkwickshire in 1996 when his motorbike crashed into an incline after jumping across a drag strip. He hit his head on the motorbike tank and was dragged down a 20-foot embankment landing on his head. He broke his pelvis, collar-bone and 6 vertebrae in his neck. The accident left him brain damaged in a wheelchair with severely restricted co-ordination and speech.

10 years later, he is in the midst of his recovery. Even though Eddie has so much to deal with, he still has had time to set up “The Eddie Kidd Foundation” which supports the treatment and rehabilitation of stunt performers.

In addition to his participation in Dubai’s Bike show 2007, Eddie Kidd is in Dubai for treatment and filming of his biography by New Forest Pictures.

New Forest Pictures, a UK based production team are filming a documentary on Eddie’s road recovery and will be joining him in Dubai following his progress. The documentary follows his every day challenges and his perseverance through rehab as he battles to recover from the brain damage. Entitled “White Men Can Jump” the documentary covers the highs and lows, the stunts, the films, the women, his friends, his ambition to walk again and his return to the world of movies, where he will be co-ordinating the stunts on the very film that he was to star in before the tragic accident.