Spike Breakwell (born Colin James Breakwell on 13 June 1968) is a British comedian. When he was four months old he became

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

through taking oral

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

which caused a two-week coma. He was brought up in

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

, and "treated and raised to be as stubborn and independent as anyone else round about." As a child, he attended Lady Zia Wernher School in Luton, then moved to Lord Mayor Treloar College in

Alton, Hampshire Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England, near the source of the River Wey. It had a population of 17,816 at the 2011 census. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as ''Aoltone'' ...

for his secondary education. Breakwell was the first wheelchair-using comedian on the London

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

club circuit from 1992, appearing on stage and

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television. His act always started with the line: "...I don't know what I've been drinking but I could walk half an hour ago!". He also co-wrote and co-starred (with Simon Hardeman) in the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe shows ''On The Toilet With Shergar (An Evening of Horseplay and Lavatory Humour )'' in 1992, ''Simon and Spikes Laugh-In'' in 1993 and the critically acclaimed play looking at comedy ''Death of a Comedian'' in 1994. He co-wrote (with Simon Hardeman) the ''Beginners' Guide'' column in The Times Magazine. He has also been a regular in a BBC disability magazine programme. In January 2006 Breakwell and part of the '' Wheelabout'' expedition team drove across Australia. He had planned to become the first person to cross from

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to Sydney (4600 miles) in an electric wheelchair. However, funding for the trip failed to materialise and it is yet to be completed. In October 2007 he appeared in his first Hollywood film, '' Dante's Criterion'', described as a supernatural horror story of a possessed television, as "Ziggy Fontain" a wheelchair-using TV advertising producer.

Books

*2017 ''Leila's Game 1 Pathfinders'' by Spike Breakwell and Colin Millar *2017 ''Movie World 4 Voyagers'' by Spike Breakwell and Colin Millar *2021 ''Isolation Nation'' by Spike Breakwell

References

External links

Ten articles by Spike Breakwell
reproduced from the

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, 2003–2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Breakwell, Spike 1968 births Living people English male comedians People from Dunstable People from Alton, Hampshire