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Richard Hammond
Born (1969-12-19) 19 December 1969 (age 55)
Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Other namesHamster
OccupationTelevision presenter
Height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Spouse(s)Amanda Hammond (Mindy)
(2002 - )

Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969), nicknamed "Hamster", is a British presenter of radio and television, best known for co-presenting the television programme Top Gear along with James May and Jeremy Clarkson from 2002 onwards, and co-hosting the live annual motoring show, MPH, in Earls Court and Birmingham NEC, alongside Tiff Needell and Jeremy Clarkson.

He also presented Brainiac: Science Abuse and writes a weekly column, which can be read in the motoring section of The Daily Mirror each Friday.

In September 2006 he had a serious brain injury sustained in a high-speed (288.3 mph, 464.0 km/h) crash during filming for Top Gear. At the end of January 2007, after Hammond recovered from his injuries, Top Gear was back on screen in the United Kingdom and showed the footage of the crash.

Biography

Hammond was born in Solihull, the grandson of workers in the automobile industry. Originally from the West Midlands, in the mid-1980s Hammond moved with his family (mother Eileen, father Alan, and younger brothers Andrew and Nicholas) to the North Yorkshire market town of Ripon where his father ran a probate business in the market square. Originally a pupil of Solihull School, a fee-paying boys' independent school in the West Midlands town, he moved to Ripon Grammar School, and from 1987 to 1989 attended Harrogate College of Art and Technology. He gained a BTEC National Diploma in Visual Communications but chose not to pursue a career in this direction.

Radio and television career

Early in his career, Hammond worked at many radio stations, including Radio York, Radio Cumbria, Radio Leeds, and Radio Lancashire, before going on to present a number of daytime lifestyle shows and motoring programmes on Men & Motors.

He presented the Crufts dog show in 2005, the 2004 and 2005 British Parking Awards, and has appeared on School's Out, a quiz show on BBC One where celebrities answer questions about things they learned at school when they were younger. He has also presented The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend. Along with his work on Top Gear, he currently presents Should I Worry About...? on BBC One and Time Commanders on BBC2, and presented the first four series of Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky One. He is also a team captain on the BBC2 quiz show, Petrolheads, in which a memorable part was one where Hammond was tricked into smashing his classic Ferrari while trying to parallel park blindfolded in another car.

From January 3, 2006 until February 10, 2006, Hammond was the eponymous star of Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show with his co-star Mel Giedroyc of Light Lunch fame. The programme, which discussed a wide range of topics, was shown every weekday on ITV1 between 5:00 and 6:00.

In July 2005, Hammond was voted number one in a heat magazine poll of top "weird celebrity crushes." Also in 2005 he was voted one of the top 10 British TV talents.

As part of Red Nose Day 2007, Hammond stood for nomination via a public telephone vote, along with Andy Hamilton and Kelvin MacKenzie, to be a one-off co-presenter of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on March 16 2007 . However, he was defeated by Andy Hamilton.

In April 2007, Hammond presented a one off special on BBC Radio 2 for Good Friday followed by another in August 2007 for the Bank Holiday. He is scheduled to present more Bank Holiday specials for the station.

Hammond recorded an interview with the famed American stuntman Evel Knievel, which aired on the 23 December 2007 on BBC1 - which was Knievel's last interview before his death on November 30 2007.

Hammond has also filmed an advertisement for Morrisons supermarkets.

Top Gear

Hammond became a presenter on Top Gear in 2002, when the show began its present format. He is sometimes referred to as "Hamster" by fans and his co-presenters on Top Gear. His nickname was further reinforced when on three separate occasions in Series 7, Hammond ate cardboard, mimicking hamster-like behaviour. Another running gag by co-host Jeremy Clarkson is Hammond's supposed use of teeth whitener, and it was staged to appear that he was caught looking at a website on teeth whiteners on Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show. Clarkson had found a pack of teeth whiteners in a car Hammond had tested. Hammond had objected, saying it was a set up. In series 10 episode 3 while in the BBC offices with the Peel P50 Jeremy is seen on the phone talking about teeth whitener, presumably to Richard Hammond.

In the first episode of series 9 on 28 January 2007, Hammond returned to a hero's welcome, complete with dancing girls and fireworks. The show also contained images of his high speed crash, for which he made national headlines, with Hammond talking through the events of the day, after which the audience broke into spontaneous applause. Hammond then requested that the crash never be mentioned on Top Gear again, though all three Top Gear presenters have since referenced it in jokes during the news segment of the programme.

Brainiac: Science Abuse

In 2003, Hammond became the first presenter of Brainiac: Science Abuse; he was joined by Jon Tickle with Charlotte Hudson joining in series 2. After the fourth series it was announced that Richard Hammond was no longer going to present the show due to his signing an exclusive deal with the BBC. Vic Reeves took his place as main presenter.

Personal life

Hammond married Amanda Etheridge, also known as Mindy on May 4 2002 at St Mary's church in Prestbury near Cheltenham, and they have two young daughters (Isabella born October 2000 and Willow born August 2003). The family lives in Gloucestershire and also have a flat in London. They have three horses, four dogs, two cats, a rabbit and a handful of chickens and sheep. This collection of pets includes Tee-Gee-Dee/TGD or Top Gear Dog. He also plays the bass guitar, on which he accompanied the other Top Gear presenters when they performed alongside Justin Hawkins on Top Gear of the Pops for Comic Relief in 2007. Hammond likes to ride his bicycle in cities, for which he claims to be mocked mercilessly by fellow presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Hammond further claims that there is no reason to drive a Range Rover in town - a dig perhaps at Clarkson who is known to do so.

Hammond is also a fan of monster trucks - a fact which can be backed up by his appearance at Truckfest '07.

On 22 July 2007, during severe flooding, Hammond left his Porsche 911 - in which he had been stuck in traffic for 13 hours - to run home for his daughter's birthday. He ran 16 miles (25 km) in two-and-a-half hours (from 3am to 5:30 am), arriving home before his daughter woke up.

In 1 January, 2008 The Sun newspaper reported that he had just bought a £6 million mansion in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire and that the house they were in, in Gloucestershire was in fact rented. An interview with The Sunday Times in February 2008 reported Hammond as having moved briefly from Gloucestershire to Buckinghamshire, then back again because he missed the country life.

Cars and bikes

Hammond is a Porsche enthusiast, and particularly likes the Porsche 911. He currently owns a left-hand drive Porsche 911 (which has appeared on Top Gear in the studio), a Dodge Charger, two Land Rovers, a Suzuki GSXR1000, a BMW 1150 GS, a Harley Davidson, a Ducati 1098, the abandoned Porsche 911, a Morgan V6 Roadster, a 1968 Mustang GT390, a 1963 Opel Kadett (which he bought in a Top Gear challenge and named Oliver, he subsequently had it shipped to the UK from Botswana) and several kit cars. On the episode broadcast on 25 November 2007 James May revealed that Hammond had just ordered a brand new Morgan AeroMax much to the disgust of Clarkson.

Vampire dragster crash

On September 20 2006, Hammond was seriously injured in a car crash while filming for Top Gear at the former RAF Elvington airfield near York. He was driving a jet-powered car, the Vampire dragster, which was theoretically capable of travelling at speeds of up to 370mph.

File:TopGearVampireCrash.jpg
Hammond in the Vampire Drag car moments before the crash. Note the burst front-right tyre.

Sky News and BBC News reported that he was driving a Vampire jet car powered by a Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus turbojet engine, one of a pair built by then driver, Keiran Westman; the same car that currently holds the British land speed record at 300.3 mph(483.29 km/h). Primetime Land Speed Engineering have denied reports that Hammond was making an attempt to break the land speed record, although telemetry on one of the runs did suggest that he had reached 314.4mph (506 km/h), an unofficial British record.

The run was not a land speed record attempt; this is consistent with there being no official present, and no attempt at a second run in the opposite direction, as is required for a land speed record to be officially recognized. In the first episode of the new series, Clarkson jokingly said "the tragedy is, that would be the fastest car crash ever in Britain, but the Guiness Book of Records people are saying that you've got to do it going in the other direction." However this contradicts some sources, including a statement given by the owner of 'Event Fire Services' which was hired to provide safety cover. He was travelling at 288.3mph (464 km/h) at the time of the crash, but when the jet car overturned and the roll cage dug into the ground he was still going at 232mph (373.4 km/h), with the top of his helmet dragging along the ground; it has been speculated that if he were any taller, he would have been decapitated. He was then taken to the specialist neurological unit of the Leeds General Infirmary.

Hammond was completing a final run to collect extra footage for the programme when his front-right tyre failed, and, according to witnesses, "one of the parachutes had deployed but it went on to the grass and spun over and over before coming to a rest about 100 yards from us." When rescuers arrived at the car it was upside down and "dug in" to the grass. Rescuers felt a pulse and heard Hammond, who was unconscious, breathing before the car was turned right way up. Hammond was cut free, put in a neck brace and placed on a stretcher before the air ambulance arrived. "He was regaining consciousness at that point and said he had some lower back pain".

ITV News reported that Hammond had broken the British land speed record and was on a last run filming extra scenes for Top Gear when the accident happened. Hammond's family stayed with him at the hospital along with Top Gear representatives who were present at the accident site, as well as Top Gear co-presenters James May and Jeremy Clarkson who had also rushed to his bedside. Jeremy Clarkson was quoted by the BBC as saying "Both James and I are looking forward to getting our 'Hamster' back", referring to Hammond by his nickname.

Dave Ogden from Event Fire Services, present at the scene of the accident, said on Sky News that evening: "He was just doing the final run of the day — I don't know quite what happened — but the parachute deployed. There was quite a lot of smoke and the car veered off to the right and on to the grass, and it overturned several times and it came to a halt a couple of hundred yards in front of us." The cause of the crash was later determined to be a blowout of the front right tyre.

The Health & Safety Executive report on the accident stated that Hammond's "instantaneous reaction to the tyre blow out seems to have been that of a competent high performance car driver, namely to brake the car and to try to steer into the skid. Immediately afterwards he also seems to have followed his training and to have pulled back on the main parachute release lever, thus shutting down the jet engine and also closing the jet and afterburner fuel levers. The main parachute did not have time to deploy before the car ran off the runway." The report suggests that the accident may not have been recoverable even if the driver had reacted with no more delay than was humanly possible.

The crash was shown on an episode of Top Gear on 28 January 2007; this was the first episode of the new series, which had been postponed pending Hammond's recovery. Hammond requested at the end of the episode that his fellow presenters never mention the crash again, a request which has since been forgotten about or ignored by both Hammond and the other presenters.

Treatment and recovery

September 20, 2006

  • BBC reports suggest that he was air-lifted from the crash scene while drifting in and out of consciousness.
  • North Yorkshire Police said that they "received a report via the fire service of a male person trapped in an overturned jet car which had been driven on the airfield."

September 21, 2006

  • The doctor treating Hammond announced on September 21 2006 that he had a "significant brain injury" but he was reasonably optimistic he would make a good recovery.
  • Hammond was visited several times in hospital after the crash by co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson, the first time on September 21. Hammond responded well to conversations with him. He even managed a smile after Clarkson jokingly said the reason he crashed was because he was such a 'crap driver'.
  • It was reported on September 21 that Hammond's co-presenter James May was originally supposed to be driving the car. May later explained that a leaked shooting schedule made weeks before the incident was changed due to scheduling conflicts.
  • After visiting Hammond in the hospital on September 21, May remarked:

I was chuffed to see him and although he's muttering, he seems much like the irritating little shit I know and love. Even when he can't say much, he seemed to make as much sense as he does when he can talk normally...Having seen him today I do believe Richard will make a full recovery from this awful crash and, when he's back on his feet, I'm looking forward to going down to the pub with him.

— James May

September 22, 2006

  • Hammond's condition was upgraded from "serious but stable" to "stable" on September 22 2006, when he was moved out of intensive care.
  • On the same day ITV News reported that Hammond was conscious and was talking to friends and family.
  • In the early hours of September 22 2006, Hammond took his first steps (he got up and went to the toilet), just 30 hours after the crash, according to Jeremy Clarkson, and was moved to a general ward on 23 September.
  • His severe injury reduced him to a "child-like state" in which he became obsessed with LEGO bricks, and Top Trumps which he said helped him recover.

September 24, 2006

  • A charity appeal in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance was established shortly after the accident. Initially the money was to be used to fund day-to-day running costs of the helicopter. However on 24 September 2006, due to the generosity of the public, the chief executive of the air ambulance trust announced the money would be used to procure a second helicopter.

September 26, 2006

September 28, 2006

  • On 28 September 2006 he was airlifted from Leeds General Infirmary to the BUPA hospital in Clifton, Bristol, to be closer to his home in Gloucestershire. His neurosurgeon, Stuart Ross, estimated a full-recovery time of 6 months.

October 2006

  • It was reported that Hammond wanted the new series of Top Gear, as scheduled, to go ahead in October and also that he wished the footage of the crash/race to be shown.
  • Rumours started to circulate after Hammond's crash that Top Gear was going to be axed, but this was denied by the BBC when they announced on October 6 2006 that the show was still in full production for its new series, although it would only air when Hammond had fully recovered and able to participate in the program.
  • The BBC also announced on October 6 2006 that they were producing a special programme on Hammond's crash that would show the footage filmed on the day.
  • In a series of articles published in the Daily Mirror on 23 October 2006 Hammond described what he remembered of the accident, and his recovery so far. At the time, he was preparing to return home after five weeks, though he had been originally told that he would be hospitalised for fifteen months.
  • His wife told her story in an article published on 24 October 2006.

November 2006

  • On November 1 2006, Jeremy Clarkson and James May received the National Television Awards for best factual programme on behalf of Top Gear and announced that Richard Hammond is 'back to normal' and made jokes about his bad driving. "I told you if one of us crashed we'd win this", Clarkson quipped.
  • On November 12 2006 he was back behind the wheel for the first time after the accident. He chose his Morgan, the classic British sports car, ahead of the other motors in his garage, which included a Porsche, vintage Ford Mustang and a Range Rover, and under doctors orders took things at a slow pace, not venturing above 50 mph. He had also since taken his first ride on a motorcycle since the crash, as publicised in MCN.

December 2006

  • On December 7 2006 he attended his first day filming for the new series at the annual Top Gear Awards. During the show, he was presented by Lego with a model of the Vampire jet-car which he crashed as well as a model of the Top Gear set, complete with the presenters as well as The Stig. It was during the same night that the show's presenters confirmed that the new series would premiere on 28 January 2007.
  • On December 22 2006 Hammond made his first television appearance since the crash on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, in which he said that since the crash he has gained a better memory, particularly with regard to telephone numbers, and a new found liking for celery. He is, however, somewhat irritated by the fact that he has been forbidden to drink any serious quantity of alcohol for a period of two years, being restricted to, at most, two pints of weak lager. Hammond revealed that he has a pact with his co-presenters that, should one of them die in an accident, the following edition of Top Gear would open with the remaining two presenters solemnly mentioning the death and then remaining silent for a moment. They would then start a new sentence, in which the first word would be 'Anyway' and continue to happily report about cars. (This pact had previously been disclosed in Jeremy Clarkson's column in The Sun on September 23, 2006). He also described the first time his children came to see him in hospital where, in a confused state, he proceeded to take off his bandages and show his gruesome eye injury to his daughters.

2007

  • On January 28 2007, Hammond made a return to Top Gear. He opened the show walking down a set of airline boarding-stairs complete with showgirls, because as Clarkson pointed out Hammond "didn't want any fuss whatsoever", and that "to build a proper set of Morecambe and Wise steps would have cost at least £300". Hammond thanked everyone involved with his accident and who wrote to him wishing him the best. Following the airing of the crash footage he asked that it never be mentioned on Top Gear again, which Clarkson and May agreed.
  • Footage of the crash, as shown in this episode, can be seen at the Top Gear website.
  • In September 2007 Richard made a return to high-speed driving with a race between a Bugatti Veyron driven by Hammond and an RAF Eurofighter Typhoon filmed for series 10 of Top Gear.

After-effects

In February 2008 Hammond gave an interview to The Sunday Times newspaper in which he described the effect of his brain injuries. He admitted suffering loss of memory, depression, and difficulties with emotional experiences, for which he was consulting a psychiatrist. He also recognised that he had returned to Top Gear too soon after the accident.

Works

TV shows

Books

  • Hammond, Richard (20/09/2007). On The Edge: My Story (Hardback). Weidenfeld & Nicolson General. pp. 310 pages. ISBN 978-0297853275. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (29/05/2008). On The Edge: My Story (Paperback). Phoenix. pp. 368 pages. ISBN 978-0753824047. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (02/06/2008). Car Science. Dorling Kindersley Publishers. pp. 96 pages. ISBN 978-1405332002. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (18/09/2008). Crocodiles And Cueballs: Adventures With Friends: Adventures with Evel, Oliver, and the Vice-President of Botswana. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 320 pages. ISBN 978-0297855200. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (05/10/2006). Richard Hammond's Car Confidential. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 144 pages. ISBN 978-0297844457. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (29/06/2006). Can You Feel the Force?: Putting the Fizz Back into Physics. Dorling Kindersley Publishers. pp. 96 pages. ISBN 978-1405315432. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (21/05/2009). Back On The Wheel: A Hamster, Back in Action. Phoenix. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 978-0753825624. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (21/05/2008). Unknown Universe: The Origin of the Universe, Quantum Gravity, Wormholes, and Other Things Science Still Can't Explain. Career Press. pp. 272 pages. ISBN 978-1601630032. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (13/10/2005). What Not To Drive. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 276 pages. ISBN 978-0297848004. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (10/09/2009). Obsessives. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 978-0297855217. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hammond, Richard (07/08/2008). On The Edge: My Story (Abridged for younger readers). Phoenix. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 978-0753823309. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

References

  1. Family detective: Richard Hammond - Telegraph
  2. BBC News — Profile: Richard Hammond Accessed 21 September, 2006.
  3. BBC News — New Doctor Who tops talent list
  4. The Sun Online — Vic lands mad science show
  5. BBC NEWS | UK | Hammond 'has taken first steps'
  6. BBC NEWS | UK | Hammond 'prefers cycling in town'
  7. http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1276474,00.html Article reporting on Hammond's car abandonment
  8. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2429141.html?menu= ANNANOVA: Star dumps car to run 16 miles home
  9. Richard Hammond | Top Gear star moves into £6million mansion | The Sun |HomePage|Showbiz|TV
  10. ^ On the Move: Richard Hammond
  11. BBC news
  12. BBC News — Speed king breaks 300mph barrier
  13. ^ TV presenter 'stable' after crash
  14. ^ TV host seriously hurt in crash
  15. Richard Hammond's Crash reconstruction - 0-288mph-0 in 20 seconds - Features - Top Gear
  16. ^ Top Gear star 'making progress'
  17. Sky News — TV Star's Horror Crash
  18. In pictures: Richard Hammond's crash (second image) - BBC News - Obtained January 18, 2007.
  19. Investigation into the accident of Richard Hammond on 20 September 2006 at Elvington airfield, nr. York, Information released: 22 June 2007, Health & Safety Executive
  20. Sky News (2006-09-21). "Top Gear Man In Crash". Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  21. Ben Rawson-Jones (2006-09-21). "Top Gear Presenters Visit Hammong". Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  22. Sky News (2006-09-21). "Presenter 'Swapped Cars'". Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  23. Telegraph.co.uk (2006-09-22). "Richard is a bit bashed in but still the irritating guy I love" (HTML). Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  24. BBC News Online (2006-09-23). "Hammond 'has taken first steps'". Retrieved 2007-09-09.
  25. Lucy Bannerman (2006-10-26). "Lego saved my life after jet-car crash, says Top Gear man". Times Online. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  26. Hammond appeal will help to buy helicopter
  27. 'Very good progress' for Hammond
  28. Top Gear star moved from hospital
  29. Daily Mail — Top Gear star begs BBC to show 280mph car crash
  30. Sky News — Top Gear Revs Up
  31. Sky News — Plans to show horror crash
  32. Clare Raymond (October 23 2006). "'My nose and ears were full of earth ..I was inhaling a field'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2006-10-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  33. Victoria Ward (October 23 2006). "'I felt mad as a bag of snakes. My mind was like a foreign place, nothing in it but blankness'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2006-10-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  34. Victoria Ward (23 October 2006). "Richard: LEGO saved my life". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2006-10-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  35. Clare Raymond (October 23 2006). "'I had this incredible physical longing to see the kids..They have been so brave'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2006-10-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  36. Clare Raymond (October 24 2006). "'Richard Hammond Exclusive: The wife's story'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2006-10-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  37. Hamster attends TG Awards
  38. Digital Spy reporting on Hammond's scheduled appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
  39. Footage of Hammond's crash
  40. BBC News Online. "New speed stunt for Top Gear host". Retrieved 2007-09-09.

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