Catherine Scott: Why Eddie the Eagle is an inspiration to us all

The children were keen, mainly since seeing said Eddie Edwards on ITV celebrity game show The Jump.

I have to say I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. I thought it would be a bit a slapstick story given a Hollywood makeover.

And in some ways that is what it is. But we all came away totally inspired.

On the one hand it was a feel good, triumph over adversity film and in a world full of doom and gloom and horrendous things happening we were in need of just that.

The film, which opened on Monday in the UK, may be based (very) loosely on Edwards’ story of how an underdog got to the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 but the essence of a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer shines through.

Edwards’ took the Calgary Games by storm after he became the first Brit in more than 50 years to compete at ski jumping.

I remember it and although Eddie’the Eagle’ Edwards, as he was dubbed, was always a bit of a laughing stock, the seriousness of his determination cannot be disputed.

Born with knee problems and also terrible vision, Eddie was told from a young age that he would never achieve his dream of going to the Olympics. But through years of hard work and unwavering determination he did achieve that goal.

He may have become something of a joke in the process, but his story both the fictional and the factual, show just how human spirit can win through no matter what.

Okay, so he was never a very good ski jumper, in fact the rules were changed after he competed to make it harder to qualify, but the fact that he battled years of hardship and poverty to prove the nay sayers wrong is an inspiration to us all.

His story shows that no matter what people say there is a chance for you to achieve against the odds.

With the inevitable Hollywood addition of a fictitious drunken American coach played by A lister Hugh Jackman, it still has box office hit written all over it.

The only real surprise is that it has taken nearly 30 years for Edwards’ story to be turned into a film.

In that time Edwards has gone from being a commercial success to being declared bankrupt.

The film is no Oscar winner, but it doesn’t turn into the parody it so easily could. This is mainly down to the fine acting of Taron Egerton who plays the eponymous role.

Edwards says he was ‘uncannily’ like him.

It is a film about a loser who becomes a winner in his own way and that is a lesson to us all.