Former Great Britain ski jumper Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards has revealed he has had surgery to reduce the size of his famously large chin.

Edwards captured the nation’s imagination when, as the only member of the British team, he came last at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary sporting his distinctive thick spectacles and moustache.

The Cheltenham-born amateur’s failure only increased his popularity, and he enjoyed celerity status throughout much of the 1990s and his name remains synonymous with the sport in Britain.

However, in a newspaper interview last December Edwards, 45, revealed that he has had surgery to reduce his ‘underbite’ and also to correct his poor eyesight.

He underwent the procedures as part of a programme for Wedding TV, and he told the channel: “I’ve had an operation on my jaw, I don’t have the big jaw any more and I’ve also had an operation on my eyes. I don’t get recognised any more, I feel 10 years younger.”

Edwards continues to work as a plasterer, as he did during his ski-jumping career, and is married with two children.