Richard Hammond

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Richard Hammond
Born	Richard Mark Hammond 19 December 1969 (1969-12-19) (age 38) Solihull, West Midlands, England
Other name(s)	Hamster
Occupation	Journalist, Radio DJ and Television presenter
Years active	2002–present
Spouse(s)	Amanda Etheridge (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 program Top Gear since 2002. Along with his Top Gear co-hosts James May and Jeremy Clarkson, Hammond also presents Top Gear Live at the annual MPH motorshow in Earls Court and Birmingham NEC.

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

In September 2006 he suffered 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 had recovered from his injuries, Top Gear was back on screen in the United Kingdom and showed the footage of the crash. ^[1]

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Top Gear 1.2 Brainiac: Science Abuse 1.3 Other radio and television work 2 Personal life 3 Vampire dragster crash 3.1 After-effects 4 Works 4.1 TV shows 4.2 Books 4.3 DVDs 4.4 Television Advertisements 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Life and career

Hammond was born in Solihull, the grandson of workers in the automobile industry.^[2] 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.

[edit] 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 programmes.

[edit] 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.^[3]

[edit] Other radio and television work

Early in his career, Hammond worked at many radio stations, including Radio York, Radio Cumbria, Radio Leeds, and Radio Lancashire,^[4] 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. He has also presented The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend. Along with his work on Top Gear, he presented Should I Worry About...? on BBC One, Time Commanders on BBC2 and the first four series of Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky One. He was 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 3 January 2006 until 10 February 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.^[5]

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 16 March 2007 [1]. 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 30 November 2007.

In September 2008, Hammond presented the first episode of a new series; Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections on the National Geographic Channel. In this show, Hammond discovers how the inventions of the past, along with assistance from nature, help designers today. Episodes include the building of the Airbus A380, Taipei 101 and the Keck Observatory.

Hammond has also filmed an advertisement for Morrisons supermarkets in 2008, and joined forces with the cast of TV show Ashes to Ashes for a special treat on the 2008 Children In Need special.

It has been announced Hammond will host the UK version of Wipeout! in late 2008/ early 2009 which will be shown on Saturday nights on BBC1.

[edit] Personal life

Hammond married Amanda Etheridge, also known as Mindy^[6] on 4 May 2002 at St Mary's church in Prestbury near Cheltenham. The couple have two young daughters: Isabella born October 2000 and Willow born July 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. Hammond 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.^[7] Hammond further claims that there is no reason to drive a Range Rover in town. 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.^[8][9]

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.^[10] 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.^[11]

In August 2008, The Sun newspaper published a story stating he had bought a castle in Herefordshire. It cost him £2 million and is set over 20 acres (81,000 m²).^[12]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008)

[edit] Vampire dragster crash

Wikinews has related news: Richard Hammond injured in jet-powered car crash

On 20 September 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 (595.5 km/h).^[13]

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).^[14][15] 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)^[16], 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 Guinness 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.^[16] 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.^[17] He was then taken to the specialist neurological unit of the Leeds General Infirmary.^[18]

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".^[19]

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.^[15]

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."^{[citation needed]} The cause of the crash was later determined to be a blowout of the front right tyre.^[20]

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.^[21]

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.

[edit] 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.^[11]

[edit] Works

[edit] TV shows

Year	Title	Notes
2002 - Present	Top Gear
2002 - 2006	Brainiac: Science Abuse
2004 - 2005	Crufts
	Should I Worry About...?
2005	The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend
	Time Commanders
	Inside Britain's Fattest Man
2006	Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show
	Petrolheads
	School's Out	as a contestant, 2006
	Richard Hammond's Would you believe it?
	Richard Hammond and The Holy Grail
	Battle of the Geeks
2007	Last Man Standing	Narrator
	Helicopter Heroes
	Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel
2008	BBC Timewatch	January 2008 - Narrator, Omaha Beach Episode
	Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections

[edit] Books

• Hammond, Richard (20/09/2007). 'On The Edge: My Story (Hardback), Weidenfeld & Nicolson General. pp. 310 pages. ISBN 978-0297853275. 
• Hammond, Richard (29/05/2008). 'On The Edge: My Story (Paperback), Phoenix. pp. 368 pages. ISBN 978-0753824047. 
• Hammond, Richard (02/06/2008). 'Car Science', Dorling Kindersley Publishers. pp. 96 pages. ISBN 978-1405332002. 
• 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. 
• Hammond, Richard (05/10/2006). 'Richard Hammond's Car Confidential', Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 144 pages. ISBN 978-0297844457. 
• 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. 
• Hammond, Richard (21/05/2009). 'Back On The Wheel: A Hamster, Back in Action', Phoenix. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 978-0753825624. 
• Hammond, Richard (13/10/2005). 'What Not To Drive', Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 276 pages. ISBN 978-0297848004. 
• Hammond, Richard (10/09/2009). 'Obsessives', Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 978-0297855217. 
• Hammond, Richard (07/08/2008). 'On The Edge: My Story (Abridged for younger readers), Phoenix. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 978-0753823309. 
• Hammond, Richard (18/09/2008). 'As You Do', Orion Publishing Co. pp. 296 pages. 

[edit] DVDs

• Richard Hammonds Top Gear Interactive Challenge Quiz

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[edit] Television Advertisements

• Morrisons (2008)^[22]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Richard Hammond

• Richard Hammond at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Hammond Interview 2006
• Donations to Yorkshre Air Ambulance double as a result of their life-saving rescue of Richard Hammond

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