Eddie - Strongman

1

[sirens wailing]

-[Eddie] Stoke-on-Trent.

-[hymn-like music]

-We are the common mock of England.

-[people laughing and talking]

Punched and caked up.

It's my home town.

It used to be

the global capital of pottery,

of industry of metal works.

Over the last few decades,

all the big factories are closed down.

And now we're just left with the slums

of where the workers lived...

with no places to work.

Unemployment rate's through the roof.

Lots of drugs and crime.

It's a pretty rough place.

Growing up here, I think that's one of the

things that led me to get in to Strongman.

[people cheering]

-[man in crowd] Hold it up, Eddie!

-[woman talking]

[crowd laughing]

[man in crowd] Come on, Eddie.

[man 2 in crowd] Move, Eddie.

[crowd] Come on, Eddie. Come on.

-[commentator] I see some spades up.

-[crowd talking]

[Eddie grunts]

[commentator] He's gonna go for it.

He's gonna attack this, come on.

-Here we go.

-[man in crowd] Come on, Eddie.

[commentator shouting]

Here we go. Arms on the lock. Here we go.

[commentator] Medics. Please, medics.

Medics. Just leave him,

just leave, please.

-Medics...

-[mumbled speech]

[Eddie] Unless somebody

tells me to stop, or I actually die,

I will be World's Strongest Man.

[Irish folk music playing] Have you

heard about the big strong man

He lives in a caravan

Have you heard

about the Jeffrey Johnson fight

Oh what a hell of a fight

You can take

all the heavyweights you've got

We've got a lad

who can beat the whole lot

He used to ring the bells

in the Belfry

Now he's gone to fight Jack Dempsey

That's me brother Sylvest'

What's he got?

A row of forty medals on his chest

Big chest

He killed fifty bad men in the west

He knows no rest

Think of a man hells' fire

Don't push just shove

Plenty of room for you and me

He's got an arm like a leg

A ladies' leg

And a punch that would sink a battleship

Big ship

He killed fifty bad men in the west

He knows no rest

Think of a man hells' fire

Don't push just shove

Plenty of room for you and me

He's got an arm like a leg

A ladies' leg

And a punch that would sink a battleship

Big ship

It takes all of the Army and the Navy

to put the wind up Sylvest'

[Eddie] See you, babe.

Everyone's in the same boat.

You know, sponsorship doesn't

really exist for athletes like myself.

Think if it was, er...

If it was a pro darts player, you know.

I'd be in a f***ing mansion now, but...

I'd probably get more money

for playing f***ing Tiddlywinks...

in England.

I've got World's Strongest Man

coming up in a couple of weeks.

I just want to get in that final

and just prove I got status.

I'm good enough to be

in top five, top six, top five.

This country hasn't had

a Strongman champion in nearly,

well, over 25 years. And back then...

the likes of Geoff Capes was, you know,

in charge of the World's Strongest Man.

Er, you know, they were making video games

of him and you know, he was just...

he was just like a god in England.

Erm, I... I really believe that if I were

to bring the World's Strongest Man title

back to England,

that faze would go off again.

Everyone will be talking about it.

Everyone, you know, everyone who works

in offices will be talking about it.

Everyone in the pubs

will be talking about it.

And I really, I genuinely think

the money will come back into the sport.

Currently I'm a HGV mechanic.

Working Monday to Friday

and in charge of trucks, just maintaining.

It's a pretty simple job,

but it's hard graft heavy.

With the World's Strongman events, we have

to pull these sort of trucks all the time.

It's not ideal for what I deal with,

lifting weights, you know. I'm saying...

doing a heavy manual job all day

and then going to the gym.

It's sort of like having two workouts,

in effect, a day.

[coughs]

Has been... f***ing pheasant

went through the grill.

[laughs]

Sorry, babe. Everything okay with Max?

I see you.

Hey, you.

He just stole a chocolate rabbit

from Boots.

-Has he?

-Yeah.

Good man.

Good man.

Tastes better when it's stolen.

Don't it, mate?

-Hey? Innit?

-[grunts]

Oh, dear.

How are you, fat boy?

Hey?

Fat lad?

Look at the camera.

The camera. What's that?

Called you a d*ckhead, he did.

[whispers] You wha'?

Yeah, I think we went for a scan and...

We paid for one, didnt we?

Like the 14 weeks scan or whatever.

And we were looking for a cock and balls

to make sure it was a boy.

-Eddie!

-What?

And, later I said to the nurse:

"It had better be a f***ing boy."

-[Eddie chuckling]

-Not as if to say we get rid of it,

but I was just like:

"It'd better be a f***ing boy."

From 16, I've put

a good ten stone of weight on.

I've covered myself in tattoos,

I'm covered in scars from fighting.

Broke bones...

I've had glasses smashed in the back

of my head. You know, from door work.

It's just one big, massive journey.

Er, believe it or not. I was just

a normal boy like everybody else. I was...

F***ing prick. I was, erm...

You know, a normal schoolboy.

Same size as everybody else

and then hit high school.

And started getting a bit bigger

and when I left high school,

that's when the real transformation began.

When...

you know, I wasn't at school

and I could do what the f*** I wanted.

I joined a gym

and I started eating properly and...

So that's when me journey began really,

when I left high school.

I think he was about 19, wasn't he,

when he went to his first...

-Strongman competition. Was it earlier?

-Nineteen or 20, yeah.

I was teasing him. Today I remember

when he used to go compete with his mummy.

I used to take him to the comps.

[laughs] Yeah.

He used to get all upset and...

When he couldn't get a lift to work,

he used to get really, really upset.

He didn't have it easy, because...

He was unknown for quite a long time.

[commentator] Fifth place on 75...

Eddie Hall.

-[applause and cheers]

-[woman] Go, Eddie!

[intense music]

[Eddie] At this present moment in time...

I'm here on this planet for three reasons.

One, I'd like to hold

the world record in deadlift.

I know I've got it in me.

I'm training my arse off for it.

So, that's just something

I wanna sort of nail off.

Two would be to meet

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You know, one of my lifetime heroes.

Everyone can look to Arnold

and think inspiration

and they can use Arnold to inspire.

I think it's import

to have stuff like this...

stuck up around the house

or in your bedroom, as a child especially.

Stuff like this is priceless.

It puts those inspirations in your head.

And number three is to win

World's Strongest Man.

And I've dedicated my whole life

to doing just that.

And we're in the year Newcastle,

aren't we?

[woman laughs]

I want my daughter and son

to sort of grow up...

and be like:
"My dad

was the World's Strongest Man."

You know and they've got a nice house

and a nice car and they can say:

"This is because of my dad." And that

genuinely fills my heart with love.

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