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My career began quite by accident back in 1976 after seeing Evel Knievel jump at Wembley Stadium, London. This inspired me to take my bike onto waste ground and immilate my hero. I discovered my ability to jump when I hit a canal bank and found myself flying 40ft through the air, landing safely and under control on the other side. After plenty of practise I then set about finding agents which led me to working outdoor shows around the country. My first appearance was at the Clevelly Art Festival in Devon. My appearances at these shows brought me an offer of work on a movie called Riding High in 1979, where I doubled for 2 of the characters, performing leaps and crashes. 1981 brought me my first world record attempt at Swansea Airport where I succeeded in jumping 28 cars, drawing a huge crowd of spectators, and covered by the media. This show was a self promotion as I was unable to find a promoter due to the fact that I was unproven as a long distance jumper. Following the success of this jump I was offered a 3 month tour of New Zealand. There I met met my wife Donna. We returned to Britain in March 1982 and continued to work the shows around the UK. Donna and I were married on August 8th 1983 and spent our honeymoon at the next jump site in Bromley, Kent. Here on 29th August 1983, I obtained my dream and broke 2 world records, the world distance record of 208 feet and the world obstacle record of 18 double decker buses. This was viewed world wide on every national news station and covered on numerous national and international newspapers. It has since been featured on many television programmes and included in a number of stunt dvd's and even appeared on Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the USA, hosted by cowboy legend Jack Palance. This footage is currently on the ITN website under the most requested modern day stunts. My moment of glory was intensified by the pride shown by my lovely wife Donna. After this we continued to promote our own shows both here and abroad. I went on and succeeded in obtaining a number of world records, beating all of Evel Knievel and Eddie Kidds world distance records and numerous world obstacle records. I am the only jumper to gain entry into the Guinness Book Of Records twice.
 ITN-source Video Exclusive
1957 saw the release of a number of classic films, ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’ with Jack Hawkins and Alec Guinness, ‘Spirit of St Louis’, ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Paths of Glory’ starring Kirk Douglas, one of the movie heroes of Chris Bromham who was born in this year on July 20th.
Chris was the youngest of seven born to William and Violet Bromham in the small mining town, Skewen, near Swansea in South Wales. As the youngest Chris had an uphill struggle from the start to be noticed but fight and struggle he did until, against the odds, he placed himself in the record books where his name will remain forever.
His first experience of motorbike stunt riding happened at the tender age of five when he freewheeled his brother’s bike into a pile of stinging nettles. He survived and quickly became one of the local daredevils, getting a feel for life on two wheels by continually performing tricks on his pushbike. Eventually he motorised his wheels and performed his first jump of about 40 feet over the canal by accident when out scrambling on adjacent wasteland. This gave Chris a real thrill and a feel for being a true high flyer along with the realisation that he had found his favoured occupation.
After serving the required educational sentence at Coed Ffranc Infant and Junior School and then Dwr-Y-Felin School until he was 16, Chris took a number of mundane jobs while he honed his stunt riding skills. First as a delivery boy, then as a tiler, then back to delivering for the Co-Op before he moved into Max Boyce’s old locker at National Coal Board as a surface worker.
1977 saw the birth of Chris’s first child, Shane, and also the beginning of his stunt career when he made his first public appearance at the Clevelly Art Festival in Devon before the Queens cousin Henrietta Rose. This led to Chris embarking on a small tour of the countries shows performing his stunts. He was offered stunt work in the film ‘Riding High’ in 1979 after which he returned to touring the UK with his stunt team.
Chris Bromham’s first record jump was in front of 30,000 people at Swansea Airport when he cleared a massive 170 feet over 28 cars in 1981. Following the success of this record jump Chris was offered a three-month tour of New Zealand. He returned to Britain in March 1982 with a new partner by his side, Donna and the two were married a year later on the August 8th 1983. The honeymoon was punctuated by Chris taking two world records when he jumped 208 feet over 18 double deck buses, a feat that has earned him a secure place in motorbike jumping history and features in a number of TV programs and DVDs.
1984 Chris worked on the Street Hawk bike, which has since ascended to cult status.
1984 he attempted another world record before embarking on a tour of the country.
On 31st August 1986 Chris secured two more World Records by jumping 20 lorries and extending the world distance record to 241 feet at the London Victoria Docks.
Chris and Donna returned to her home country for an 11-month tour in 1987, during which another record attempt was scheduled, unfortunately the weather dealt a bad hand and the event was rained off. However when they returned to the UK Chris was successful in out jumping Evil Knievel’s previous record when he cleared 14 single deck buses, which he performed in the guise of Cy-Clone, a robot character devised by Chris and Mike Young, the creator of Super Ted; taking its inspiration from Robo Cop, Cy-Clone was a motorbike super hero that appealed to the kids and Chris performed a whole season at The American Adventure theme park in Derbyshire as Cy-Clone.
On the 16th November 1988 Donna gave birth to their first Daughter, Natalie.
Over the next few years Chris continued to tour with his stunt show, which included a tour of the Isle of Man. A further record attempt fell foul of the weather and was rained off at Swansea Airport.
26th July 1991 brought the birth of their second daughter, Natasha.
In 1992 Chris’s highflying career was about to crash land when tragedy struck, but surprisingly it was not Chris that was the victim. They had just begun a tour of Scotland; the first show in New Deer had gone well and they moved on to Nairn near Inverness where Chris’s second show also went well. After the show the world collapsed. Donna was struck down by the Road Safety Officer in a bizarre accident and despite the efforts of the medical staff of Inverness’s Ragmore Hospital Donna died two days later on July 21st, the day after Chris’ 35th birthday.
The loss of his wife effectively put a stop to Chris’s career as he struggled to cope not only with her death but also with raising three children alone.
It took three years for Chris Bromham to rebuild himself and re-launch his career when on August 13th 1995 he made another world record attempt over 21 lorries. His final jump was in 1997 when he successfully equalled his own world record and cleared 20 lorries.
On August 7th 1997 Chris and his fiancée Anna-Marie were married and remain close, loyal partners.
During a twenty year period Chris Bromham displayed an exceptional drive and determination, which has asserted him as one of the great motorbike jump riders of all time. He has undoubtedly left his mark in the record books and has never buckled, even in the face of tragedy.
Chris still owns a range of motor bikes but now prefers to keep his wheels on the ground, although deep inside there is still an undeniable urge to fly.
This does not represent Chris’ full career, but covers the high and low points.
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