Biography
Matt’s story begins in 1969 in Mornington Australia and takes him on a journey to America, France, Italy, Holland and finally to the UK where in 1989 he embarks on a career as a showman.
At the age of seven Matt’s mum Joy bought him a 70cc Honda from the local hardware store. Not long after that Joy found herself taking him along to the local schoolboy motorcross events and found that her son had a natural ability for racing.
Matt progressed to Quad bikes when they were imported into Australia and was one of the first to compete in the newly formed Australian Quad Racing Championships. After becoming Australian champion he took off for America to compete in the USA Quad Championships. Matt then went on to compete in the French, Italian and UK championships, becoming the Italian and UK Champion.
Matt’s career as a showman took off when he started to perform at county and motor shows around the UK. Matt attempted the first paddle steamer jump at a Wild West theme park in Cornwall. Matt had done little preparation and had agreed to the jump without thinking about the consequences, he hit the top of the paddle steamer and was catapulted into the river. Mike Bryant the cameraman was convinced that he had killed himself, but to everyone’s amazement he was dragged from the river unhurt, all be it shaken.
A year after the first paddle steamer jump Matt returned to Cornwall and attempted the stunt again. This time the ramp was made too big; again he had allowed the owners of the park to do most of the preparation and took off with such height that he had to drop the bike in mid air. He made the jump but landed very badly, breaking his leg. His doctor told him that they would need to amputate his leg at the knee because the break was so bad, but he convinced them to leave it and to this day he walks with a limp and has no feeling in his foot.
When Matt returned to his home country to perform at a number of shows, he was shocked to find that he had testicular cancer. It was midway through the tour and he again convinced the doctors to go against their better judgement by allowing him to perform at his weekend show and then operate on him on the Monday morning.
Matt also sustained an injury when he set his first Guinness World Record, he landed very hard and had to be driven to the hospital with suspected concussion, which turned out to be severe bruising to the brain. He was kept in hospital for the following week much to the disgust of his wife who demanded that he be released as he had a show to do the following day.
Matt went through a very painful divorce that left him in financial difficulty. He then spent the next few years trying to evade loneliness. As a showman he had no shortage of women throwing themselves at him and there were women who would be waiting for him to arrive at the showground. They would get what they had come for and then leave.
During these years he became more and more outrageous. At one of the showman shows he and a lady friend rode naked on his Harley Davidson into the tent where the evening ball was being held. Another time he rode his quad into the lobby of the Holiday Inn while a wedding was taking place.
The ego had taken over and Matt was living a life of drink, loose women and all night partying.
But during these times Matt was able to put his ego to one side and he would become the responsible parent, having his children during the school holidays when they would live with him in the motorhome, travelling from show to show. Although he found this incredibly difficult, as Samuel was only three, he always had a huge gathering of friends who would turn up and help out.
Matt would also show a different side of himself when he saw people in difficulty or was asked to help someone less fortunate than himself. Matt’s friends are aware of the big kind heart he has and they were not surprised when he offered to do many shows, free of charge, for charity. Or when he helped Graham Hicks, the deafblind quad rider to achieve a world record in 2001.
In 2005, after two very busy years Matt decided to retire from the UK show circuit and only performed at four shows in the UK in 2006. He is currently living back on the Gold Coast in Australia, racing in touring car and quad races.
Matt has many funny and sometimes tragic stories from all round the world. Including tales of females who have abandoned their wedding plans after a one-night stand in the hope of starting a relationship with him. The time when the Inland Revenue were going to take his motorhome because he owed them over £9000 and he walked into their office with carrier bags of 2p’s to pay the debt.
There have been real highs when he has achieved major jumps and the crowds have gone crazy. Then there have been the real lows when he has felt so alone and betrayed that he has contemplated the unthinkable. The happier times when he would finish a show and would be surrounded for hours by fans wanting to see him and the sad times, such as when he visited and put on a special show for a very sick little boy, who unfortunately died a week later.
This is the story of Matt Coulter, one of the world’s top stunt men, one day a book will be written that will tell the story of the man behind the legend, his journey of growth through the good and bad times and his struggle to find a meaning in it all through his spiritual beliefs in reincarnation and aliens.
