Guy Martin

“They don't call it the Wall of Death for nothing. The biggest risk is crashing off the top. That's when it gets really messy.”

“I should be paid to be a spokesman for Ford Transit.”

“It's bred in me that I only see real work as getting stuck in and getting your hands dirty.”

“I was born in Grimsby and always lived around there, but it's died a death because of the loss of the fishing industry.”

“I'm not a materialistic person at all, but I always want the next thing; I've got a nice toolbox, but I still want another set of spanners.”

“I don't want to be famous.”

“I do all that TV stuff, and it's not real work.”

“There's no more expensive sport than racing bloody motorbikes.”

“I broke five vertebrae, and they had to rod my spine because I broke my sternum, too.”

“I'm not an ungrateful person.”

“I can't stop biting off more than I can chew.”

“I like films, but I can't sit still for very long.”

“I like talking but on my terms. I don't like people talking to me, but I like talking to people.”

“I like pushing myself.”

“I'd never be disrespectful to road racing. The sport was good to me.”

“Some riders believe in all the hype at the TT; have a successful week, give up work then go and buy motorhomes and cars. I like to get back to normal afterwards and go to work.”

“I'm fascinated by the whole communist thing. No one has a lot, but everyone is the same. I like that way of living.”

“TV people are great folks, but if I said, 'Come and film a beetroot-jar-opening competition,' they would.”

“I'm not much of a chef, so people keep buying me cookery books to broaden my culinary horizons, but I've not got far past shepherd's pie yet.”

“I don't go to racers' funerals.”