Richard Hammond

Biography: An English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.

Hammond was born in Solihull, 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, 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, including Radio Cleveland, Radio York, Radio Cumbria, Radio Leeds, Radio Newcastle and Radio Lancashire, before auditioning for Top Gear.

Hammond became a presenter on Top Gear in 2002, when the show began in its present format. He is sometimes referred to as "Hamster" by fans and his co-presenters on Top Gear due to his comparatively small stature.

In the first episode of series 9 broadcast on 28 January 2007, having recovered from his high speed crash Hammond returned to a hero?s welcome, complete with dancing girls, aeroplane style stairs and fireworks. The show also contained images of the crash, which had 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 the show again, though all three Top Gear presenters have since referred to it in jokes during the news segment of the programme. 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".

Hammond has been married to Amanda Etheridge usually known as Mindy, since May 2002; the couple have two daughters. The family lives in a mock castle in Herefordshire and also has an apartment in London. 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 is a fan of Porsche 911s and claims the Pagani Zonda to be the ultimate supercar. He once owned a 1982 Porsche 911 SC (sold in the mid-2000s), and later purchased a 2006 Porsche 911 (997) Carrera S. In 2004, Hammond purchased a Porsche 928 for the purpose of daily driving.

Hammond had also owned a Morgan AeroMax, in which he was involved in a car accident on 9 August 2009. He also owns a Jaguar E-Type and is also a fan of monster trucks, having attended Truckfest ?07.

On 20 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 3 am to 5:30 am), arriving home before his daughter woke up