Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond admitted he may be going through a mid-life crisis, but has said he's doing the opposite of many men. Instead of splashing out on luxury sports cars, the TV presenter said he has got rid of most of his cars.
Despite being known for his love of cars, Richard said he has now driving a pick-up truck, reports The Mirror.
He said: “Am I having a mid-life crisis? The archetypal, stereotypical thing is buying a sports car and I’ve got rid of most of mine. I mostly drive a pick-up truck or Land Rover now. So I think, yeah, maybe I am. Men do – we evaluate things.”
Richard first began hosting Top Gear with fellow stars Jeremy Clarkson and Richard May 20 years ago. But the trio are still working together after moving on to launch The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime in 2015. Richard says that the three presenters, who are known for their argumentative style and controversial humour, still bicker.
“Oh God, we bicker,” says Richard. “But we never fall out because we still work together. If you think of anybody you’ve spent the last 20 years with, you’ll know how it works. If I talk about motorbikes it annoys Jeremy because he hates them.
"And if Jeremy and James talk about Second World War aeroplanes that annoys me because it’s not my subject. We know each other's buttons but we don’t press them very often.”
Richard's love of cars saw him involved in a catastrophic crash in 2006 during the filming of an episode of Top Gear. While driving a Vampire jet car at 288mph, a tyre on the vehicle blew and it was flipped upside down. His crash helmet was dragged along the ground.
He was then airlifted to hospital and was in a coma for two weeks. He suffered injuries to his brain but made a full recovery.
However, 10 years later he was involved in another accident when his supercar crashed on a Swiss mountain and burst into flames. Since then he no longer throws himself into as many perilous stunts. He said his wife Mindy, 56, and daughters Izzy, 21, and Willow, 18, have had enough worry.
Richard said: “Mindy never says no to my doing dangerous things because I’ve never asked her. I just wouldn’t do it now out of respect for her and the girls. I don’t want to risk taking myself out of their lives because we all have a lot of fun together and I wouldn’t want not to be there to fulfil that role.”
His latest show, Richard Hammond's Crazy Contraptions, is far less dangerous. The Channel 4 gameshow pits teams of engineers against each other to make machines out of everyday objects such as books, string and loo rolls.
The show appealed to Richard as he claims to have attempted to make his own inventions, including a Wallace and Gromit-style device that would make him breakfast at the pull of a level. The device did not work.
“I have tried inventions before and they’ve never worked," he said. “So when Channel 4 rang and asked if I wanted to present the show on more or less the same subject I said ‘Yes please’.”
The series challenges contestants to make crazy machines to do mundane tasks such as making beds, feeding dogs or running a baths.
Richard Hammond’s Crazy Contraptions starts tomorrow night (Friday, April 29) at 8pm, Channel 4.
