When looking for a moniker, Mr Ryan said his father found legend in the dictionary, pitching the now well known Lawrence Legend.

Mr Ryan explained a lot of famous people had the same first and last initials in their name such Marilyn Munro, Tina Turner, Howard Hughes or Mickey Mouse.

The origin of Mr Ryan’s stage name is contained in a book with Stephen Webb on his 25 year career called Legend: A childhood dream.

The book which will be launched at the Monte Cristo Homestead on June 10 also revealed Mr Ryan’s battle with dyslexia.

Struggling with the condition during school, Mr Ryan said a book written by Australian stuntman Ian B Jamieson, called Bring on the Stuntman! helped him to overcome dyslexia.

“My dad always said there was no such thing as ‘can’t’.”

While these days extreme sports carry a warning not to try them at home, Mr Ryan said that was how he learned.

“I had no one to teach me, it was just going out and trying it on my bike,” he said.

Mr Ryan said after he decided to become to become a dare devil, people said they’d doubt he’d make it past his 21^st birthday.

In 25 years of jumping over things in motorbikes, he revealed he’d only ever had two broken bones, plus a few fractures.

In 1991, Mr Ryan broke his left ankle trying to jump 15 cars at Bolton Park in Wagga – he made it to 14.5 cars.

In 2003, after jumping a bus for television program Rove Live, Mr Ryan was taking the motorbike back to the shed, and broke his femur after doing a wheel-stand.

Despite completing hundreds of jumps, Mr Ryan said he still “gets butterflies” but it was the tunnel of fire which still scared him.

“They never cease to scare the hell out of me,” he said.

“Fire is its own master.”

The reason behind it was down to the air and fuel mix used in a motorbike – having a fire consume the air meant fire in a stunt was always an unknown.