Biography
Richard Hammond, Co-presenter of the BBC's flagship motoring programme Top Gear.
Richard Hammond has been a presenter on Top Gear since 2002, and believes it is “the show you aspire to present”.
Early in his career, Richard 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.
Richard Hammond 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 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.
A genuine car and bike enthusiast - which means he actually buys them - Richard Hammond owns a 1957 Land Rover, a Land Rover 110 V8, an elderly Range Rover, a 1969 Dodge Charger and a Porsche 928. He also owns two bikes, a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 and a BMW R1150 GS, and has built a couple of kit cars.
In September 2006 Richard 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 he had recovered from his injuries, Top Gear was back and Richard 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 Ricard talking through the events of the day, after which the audience broke into spontaneous applause. He then requested that the crash never be mentioned on Top Gear again, though all three presenters have since referenced it in jokes during the news segment of the programmes
Richard has also channeled his talents into the corporate market for such clients as Ferrari Owners Club, Cisco Systems and Renault Sport as both an event host and hilarious after dinner speaker.
Richard is taking time out from racing cars and making laddish banter with Jeremy Clarkson to host a big new Saturday night entertainment show for the BBC. A mixture of It's A Knockout and Gladiators, Total Wipeout is an action-packed game show that has already been a massive hit in America.
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