Richard Hammond
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Biography
Richard Hammond, (born December 19 1969) is an award winning British television presenter best known for co-presenting Top Gear along with James May and Jeremy Clarkson from 2002 onwards. Earlier in his career he worked at Radio York and Radio Cumbria, before going on to present a number of daytime lifestyle shows and motoring programmes on Men & Motors. Along with his work on Top Gear he also currently presents Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky One, Should I Worry About...? on BBC One and Time Commanders on BBC Two. He also presented Crufts 2005 and The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding the Legend, where he rebuilt the House of Lords and blew it up as Guy Fawkes would have, had he succeeded. His weekly column can be read in the motoring section of The Daily Mirror each Friday. Richard also presented the British Parking Awards on 10 March 2006 at the Dorchester in London, presenting awards in a variety of categories including 'Parking team of the year' and 'Best new car park'.
From Tuesday 3rd January 2006 until Friday 10th February, Richard was the eponymous star of Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show with his co-star Mel Giedroyc of Late Lunch fame. The programme, which discussed a wide range of random and amusing subjects, was shown every weekday on ITV1 between 5:00 and 6:00. He is also a team captain on the new BBC2 quiz show, Petrolheads, which began airing in February 2006.
Originally from the West Midlands, in the mid 1980s Hammond moved with his family (mother Eileen, father Alan, and brothers Andrew and Nicholas) to the Yorkshire market town of Ripon where his father ran a probate business in the market square. A pupil of Ripon Grammar School, from 1987 to 1989 he attended Harrogate College of Art and Technology and was friends with author and academic Jonathan Baldwin. He then went onto gain a degree in photography and television production.
His height (5' 7")1 or lack thereof, is the source of much whimsical banter between him and Jeremy Clarkson (6'5") on Top Gear, with Jeremy Clarkson often placing pictures of cars high up on the 'Top Gear "cool wall" during arguments with Hammond in order to win. When driving a Bowler Wildcat off-road vehicle, he exclaimed, "I am a driving God!", much to the amusement of Clarkson and May, making the incident the stuff of Top Gear folklore. He is referred to, mostly affectionately, as The Hamster by fans of the show, and occasionally by his co-presenters. His nickname was further re-enforced when on two separate occasions in Season 7, Hammond ate cardboard, mimicking hamster-like behaviour. A running gag by co-host Jeremy Clarkson is Hammond's supposed use of teeth whitener. During one incident when Richard was called on whether he was moonlighting for the gay car website www.topgayer.com, Richard quipped: "Mine have gone whiter, naturally, in the same way that yours have gone green." On another episode, a box of used teeth whitener was "found" (Hammond claims it was planted) in a Marcos TSO GT2 Hammond had driven.
In July 2005, Hammond won the dubious accolade of being voted number one in a Heat magazine poll of the top "weird celebrity crushes".
He has worked on many different TV channels such as the BBC, ITV and Sky one at the same time unlike his other top gear presenters and is seen by many as presenting or appearing on shows for money regardless of the quality of the show.
He lives near Cheltenham with his wife Amanda (whom he married in 2002) and their two young daughters, Isabella and Willow. He also has three horses, four dogs, two cats, a rabbit and handful of chickens and sheep along with a collection of vehicles that include two Land Rovers, a Suzuki GSXR1000, a Dodge Charger, a Porsche 911, a Morgan V6 Roadster, a Pagani Zonda and several kit cars, and he also used to sing and play bass in a band when he was younger.
Works
TV Shows
- Top Gear (2002) - Hammond becomes a presenter of the show along with Jeremy Clarkson. (James May joined later on.)
- Brainiac: Science Abuse (2003) - Presents the show alongside former Big Brother Series 4 contestant Jon Tickle, who at a height of 6'3 is likened to Jeremy Clarkson.
- Time Commanders (2003)
- Should I Worry About...? (2004)
- The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend (2005)
- Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show (2006) - A show of his own name.
- Petrolheads (2006)
- Richard Hammond On The Grail Trail (2006)
- Richard Hammonds Believe It Or Not (2006)