25 February 2007 Hollywood star Ewan McGregor has broken his leg in a motorbike smash. The daredevil Scot came off his high-powered bike while taking it for a spinnear his London home. McGregor, 35, has been hobbling around with a plaster cast but is hoping torecover fully for his planned motorbike trip from John O’Groats to Cape Town inSouth Africa this summer. The trip follows his 18,000-mile round-the-world journey, The Long Way Round.The TV show and book based on the adventure became an international hit. In an interview for Comic Relief, the Star Wars actor told Edinburgh’s FreshAir Radio DJ Tim Johns how he was hurt when he spilled off his bike. He said: “I just had a freak traffic accident on my bike and had a little falloff, yeah. “It hasn’t put me off bikes at all. “If you are going to ride bikes, you are going to have accidents from time totime. So it was unfortunate.” Last night, McGregor’s mum Carol, from Crieff, Perthshire, said: “It’s true.Ewan has had an accident on his motorbike and has broken his leg. “The accident happened in London but that’s all I can really tell you about it. “Ewan is managing to hobble around on crutches perfectly well and he feels OK. “I’m sure he will be fine for his motorbike trip in the summer and he is verymuch looking forward to it.” It is the second time McGregor has come off a motorbike. He escaped seriousinjury seven years ago when a 190mph superbike he was riding on loan, skiddedon diesel near Inverness. The star, who was wearing a full leather suit and crash helmet, suffered onlycuts and bruises. The 1100cc bike was a write-off and McGregor had to pay a £1000 excess. McGregor once admitted taking a ride on the wild side – doing 135mph on a Scotshighway, while fronting a road safety campaign. McGregor, married with three children, was banned from riding his bike duringthe shooting of Star Wars in Australia because of concerns for his safety. The actor, who lives in St John’s Wood, London, owns eight bikes, including hispride and joy, an MV Augusta. Although it is only 750cc, it can reach 160mph and has been the mount ofchampions including the late Mike Hailwood. McGregor also told the radio station how he is looking forward to his nextmotorbike adventure with friend Charley Boorman. He said: “We had a most incredible experience, me and Charley. Doing The LongWay Round, it was just great. We decided to use what we had learned on that oneto do another. “We are going to leave from John O’Groats in the north of Scotland to Cape Townin South Africa. We’ll take about three months, I think.”Source: sundaymail.co.ukThanks to dbs1 for the link!