It had been a dream of mine to go to an Olympic Games since I was about seven years old. I didn't know I'd do it ski jumping, but that's how it turned out.
Both parents were hard-working and made me work for my pocket money by doing household chores. That taught me the value of money and gave me a strong work ethic.
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.
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.
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 don't regard myself as an entertainer. I don't think that's where my talents lie. It always feels a bit uncomfortable.
I liked being Eddie the Eagle, but I also like being Michael Edwards, plasterer and general builder.
I was living on a loaf of bread a week.
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.
The births of my two girls were wonderful - I felt proud to have helped bring new life into this world.
I've hated poetry ever since I was at school. I include Shakespeare in that. I don't understand the obsession with him!
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Sport on TV is so boring.
