Richard Mark Hammond (born December 19, 1969, Solihull, England) is a British TV presenter, most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky1, Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections on BBC Two, Should I Worry About...? on BBC One and Total Wipeout, also on BBC One and Richard Hammond's Blast Lab on CBBC. He has also presented several one-off specials such as ITV's The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend and the annual Crufts awards.

In 2006, Hammond suffered a life-threatening crash at speeds of over 280 mph (450 km/h) in a jet powered dragster. He recovered months later and continued his presenting work.


Life and career

Hammond was born in Shirley, West Midlands and is the grandson of workers in the Birmingham automobile industry. In the mid-1980s Hammond moved with his family (mother Eileen, father Alan, and younger brothers Andrew and Nicholas) to the North Yorkshire Cathedral city 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. After his graduation he worked for several radio stations before auditioning for Top Gear.

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 (Jeremy Clarkson and James May) on Top Gear. His nickname was further reinforced when on three separate occasions in Series 7, Hammond ate cardboard,[citation needed] 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. During an episode in June 2009 which featured the presenters in their office searching for car insurance prices while pretending to be 17 year olds, a teeth whitening kit was pictured on his desk.

In the first episode of series 9 on 28 January 2007, Hammond returned to a hero's welcome, complete with dancing girls, aeroplane stairs and fireworks. The show also contained images of his high speed crash, for which he made international 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 referred to it in jokes during the news segment of the programmes. He told his colleagues "The only difference between me now, and before the crash, is that I like celery now and I didn't before".


Personal life

Hammond has been married to Amanda Etheridge (also known as Mindy) since May 2002; the couple have two daughters. The family lives in a mock castle in Herefordshire and also have a flat in London. They have four horses, five dogs, three cats, a duck, and a few chickens and sheep. This collection of pets includes Tee-Gee/TG 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. Hammond further claims that there is no reason to drive a Range Rover in town. Hammond is a fan of Porsche 911s (unlike Clarkson) and considers the Pagani Zonda to be the ultimate supercar. He is also a fan of monster trucks - a fact which can be backed up by his appearance at Truckfest '07. Much unlike Clarkson and May, he also has an interest in American Muscle Cars. He has a Dodge Charger, a Shelby Mustang, and also a Dodge Challenger which he bought on his last trip to the United States, due to the fact that Chrysler wouldn't lend Top Gear one, because apparently they are 'too harsh' about their cars.

Hammond had also owned a Morgan AeroMax, in which he was involved in a car accident on 9 August 2009.

Hammond has quit smoking and has attributed his teeth going white to him quitting smoking[citation needed]. Hammond has now started smoking again.[citation needed]

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 (26 km) in two-and-a-half hours (from 3am to 5:30 am), arriving home before his daughter woke up.

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.

Hammond is a keen motorcyclist and Land Rover Defender fan. He spent over 70,000GBP rebuilding his 110 "Buster" in 2008.[citation needed]

In October the Hereford Times confirmed he had splashed out three million pounds buying Bollitree Castle which is situated near Weston under Penyard, Ross on Wye. It has been rumoured he has also bought a large house in the small town of Wantage, Oxfordshire.

On Top Gear in 2007, Hammond went to Africa on an 'Epic Road Trip' across Botswana. While there he found a 1963 Opel Kadett, in which he drove across Botswana. Hammond named it Oliver. On Top Gear a week after the special was aired, Hammond announced during the news, that he had shipped Oliver back to the UK, where it was restored by a team from Practical Classics magazine. Oliver features on Hammond's children's science television show Richard Hammond's Blast Lab and in another episode of Top Gear as a kind of "Hill-holder" in the trailer truck challenge (after it acquired the personal plate "OLI V3R"). Oliver is also mentioned in Hammond's second autobiography As You Do.