Here’s Eddie Kidd jumping 80ft over a broken railway bridge

Among the many accomplishments of British jumpsmith Eddie Kidd, he ranks this spectacular 80ft leap across a broken railway bridge as one of his very finest.

“I did it my way,” he once told the BBC about the jump. Taking place in Maldon in Essex, it was for a film called Riding High (1981) – about, unsurprisingly, a motorcycle stuntman – and Kidd of course, was the star.

He said he’d been asked to do this particular stunt towards the end of the film’s shoot because “they were worried”, and it was fraught with jeopardy; a previous rainfall meant his Yamaha had to wear a front mud guard, which affected the jump and landing.

Unbelievably, Kidd was only 20 years old when he did this jump. He would later go on to be stuntman for Bonds Dalton and Brosnan, and famously doubled for Harrison Ford, too.

Not seen Top Gear’s tribute to Kidd? Catch it on iPlayer here.

Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images