{"id":99936,"date":"2023-10-13T14:42:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T14:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritycovernews.com\/?p=99936"},"modified":"2023-10-13T14:42:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T14:42:17","slug":"richard-hammond-says-tv-bosses-must-reconsider-risky-stunts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritycovernews.com\/celebrities\/richard-hammond-says-tv-bosses-must-reconsider-risky-stunts\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Hammond says TV bosses must reconsider risky stunts"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>After he and Freddie Flintoff were injured in high-speed crashes, Richard Hammond says TV bosses must reconsider risky stunts: &#8216;Things do go wrong&#8230; I almost died&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Hammond denies he&#8217;s an adrenaline junkie but gets a &#8216;big kick out of business&#8217;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0\u00a0Freddie Flintoff says &#8216;last few months have been hardest of his life&#8217; as he speaks publicly for the first time since horror Top Gear crash<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With an undiminished passion for fast cars despite two life-threatening crashes at terrifying speeds, it would be fair to assume that Grand Tour presenter Richard Hammond\u00a0is an adrenaline junkie with an insatiable thirst for danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not so. He says it\u2019s the fact that he\u2019s short that makes him unable to resist a big challenge. He\u2019s 5ft 7in and was taunted at school for his height, or lack of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018My natural response to a challenge is to step towards it,\u2019 he says. \u2018It comes from being a small bloke, because when you\u2019re little at school you very quickly make yourself big and loud and funny.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Other kids made me very conscious of my height and I took it to heart. I\u2019m 5ft 7in, which is actually fairly normal \u2013 yes, I\u2019m short but I\u2019m not hilariously short.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Height is one of those weird things, particularly for men because it used to be read as a sign of health, strength and virility. And yet it\u2019s something you can do nothing about.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/20\/76391133-12614829-image-a-12_1696965191034.jpg\" height=\"953\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Richard Hammond in his classic car restoration workshop, which is the subject of his Discovery+ show Richard Hammond&#8217;s Workshop<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;A van driver once shouted out of his window to me, \u201cYou really are short, aren\u2019t you?\u201d, so I shouted back, \u201cYeah and you\u2019re fat. But there\u2019s nothing I can do about being short.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Then I drove off really fast as he was enormous! What I do enjoy is how often people are disappointed when they meet me because they expect to see something you\u2019d pop on the mantelpiece.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s sitting behind his desk at his home in Herefordshire so it\u2019s hard to gauge his relative height. What is apparent is his tenacity, which is currently being channelled into running a classic car restoration business.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He set it up with automotive \u2018wonder family\u2019 Neil, Anthony and Andrew Greenhouse, and it\u2019s the subject of his Discovery+ show, Richard Hammond\u2019s Workshop, which is back on our screens later this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m not an adrenaline junkie and I never have been, but I\u2019m getting a big kick out of business, full stop,\u2019 says Richard, 53.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s very exciting because I\u2019ve had 25 years as a TV and radio presenter where almost everything\u2019s been done for me. I\u2019ve never had to think about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But now I\u2019m enjoying suddenly being out here in the real world. Of course I get anxious at night \u2013 find somebody who runs a business who doesn\u2019t worry.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Despite the show entering its third series, The Smallest Cog classic car workshop is yet to make a profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now Richard plans to restore expensive cars with a unique story to attract high-end customers willing to pay a higher rate, but jobs like a rusty Lancia and an ex-military Pinzgauer threaten to eat into any profits.<\/p>\n<p>Highlights of the new series include Richard taking on the restoration of a unique Delahaye sports car, built for legendary Grand Prix driver Louis Chiron in 1947.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/10\/20\/76391135-12614829-image-a-9_1696965007699.jpg\" height=\"466\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Richard was in a coma for two weeks after his crash in a jet-powered Vampire dragster in 2006<\/p>\n<p>He then plans to raise The Smallest Cog\u2019s profile by taking both the Delahaye and a classy Jaguar XK120 to the prestigious Salon Priv\u00e9 luxury car show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Richard also investigates the future of motoring by driving a classic Bentley powered on synthetic fuel.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s a completely different show to The Grand Tour. The only similarity is that both are about people and their passions as much as about cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But we\u2019re not pretending on this show that I\u2019ve suddenly given up my successful media career to become unpaid manager of a workshop in Herefordshire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I still have to keep my work going, so I\u2019m still doing my other stuff and The Grand Tour with the guys.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Fans of that Amazon motoring show, which Richard co-hosts with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, will be pleased to hear that filming is finished on the next instalment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, production has been suspended on the trio\u2019s former show Top Gear amid concerns about its safety protocols after Andrew \u2018Freddie\u2019 Flintoff\u2019s 130mph horror crash last December.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former England cricket captain was \u2018lucky to be alive\u2019 after his open-topped three-wheel Morgan Super 3 car, which had no air bags, flipped over while filming the BBC series.<\/p>\n<p>Flintoff\u2019s brush with death followed Richard\u2019s own catastrophic smash on Top Gear in 2006. He spent two weeks in a coma after crashing in a jet-powered Vampire dragster at 288mph on a Yorkshire airfield when a tyre burst.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then, in 2017, his electric supercar skidded off a Swiss mountain road while filming The Grand Tour. Richard woke up to find himself still strapped in, upside down, as the \u00a32 million motor caught fire. The crash was so bad that Jeremy and James believed he had died.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Filming was temporarily put on hold while he recovered from a fractured knee, requiring the insertion of a plate and ten screws.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/11\/20\/76391131-12614829-Andrew_Freddie_Flintoff_s_was_the_victim_of_a_130mph_crash_last_-a-56_1697052792454.jpg\" height=\"936\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former England captain Freddie Flintoff in the stands during the first one day international match at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, on\u00a0Friday September 8, 2023<\/p>\n<p>Richard doesn\u2019t necessarily think these horror accidents will put TV executives off doing stunts in the future, but he says they need to seriously consider the risks when plotting the stunts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Television makers have to be aware that you\u2019re not in some special bubble just because you\u2019re making a TV show, and things can and do go wrong. Just like when my tyre blew at that speed \u2013 it\u2019s going to be bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But what are you going to do? Track it back to the person who tapped the rubber? Something went wrong and things do go wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I don\u2019t know if Top Gear will come back. It\u2019s up to the BBC \u2013 often they will rest a brand. My connection with Top Gear was that I watched it as a kid and loved it. Then I was lucky enough to be involved in making our version, and I\u2019m sure there will be other versions in the future.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Has he been in touch with Andrew? \u2018I\u2019ve met him a couple of times but I don\u2019t know him. Obviously I was desperately concerned. It\u2019s a really distressing thing to go through. I just wish him all the very best. He\u2019s got his own journey to undergo and he\u2019ll do that in his own way.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Richard relied on the support of his wife Mindy and their daughters Izzy and Willow, now 22 and 20, after the 2006 accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And it worked \u2013 it had been expected he\u2019d be in a clinic for 15 months but he was home at the family castle near Ross-on-Wye in just five weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018In the early days of recovery I was having terrible trouble containing and controlling emotions, which is part of the damage done to my brain\u2019s frontal lobe. But I do remember sitting by the fireplace and holding Mindy\u2019s hand and saying, \u201cLet\u2019s make this a good thing. Let\u2019s take ownership of this.\u201d It was a conscious decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I had a lot of help from Mindy in supporting me going back to work because keeping me away from work was probably a greater problem. But I had to go back carefully and have an afternoon nap every day. It was immensely traumatic for Mindy and our girls.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>At first Richard didn\u2019t even recognise his wife, then his short-term memory was limited to ten seconds and the frontal lobe injury made him prone to temper tantrums.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On one occasion Richard told his family to evacuate the house because he felt he was going to explode. Maybe surprisingly, it was Jeremy Clarkson who sent funny notes to Mindy each day to make her laugh through the darkest times.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Mindy really appreciated that Jeremy did that. She was told early on, \u201cYou\u2019ll have to watch out for anger, but also a tendency towards compulsive behaviour, paranoia or obsession.\u201d But Mindy just paused and said, \u201cYeah, but you didn\u2019t meet him before the crash!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Mindy issued Richard a \u2018three strikes and you\u2019re out\u2019 warning after his last accident, and both he and his Grand Tour co-hosts have been known to cause consternation when not in the driving seat.<\/p>\n<p>Clarkson had to apologise after his controversial newspaper article about Meghan Markle last year, while in 2016 Richard was criticised for suggesting that, for men, eating ice cream is linked to being gay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But he says he doesn\u2019t court controversy. \u2018I don\u2019t like being in trouble and I don\u2019t like causing offence,\u2019 he says. \u2018There\u2019s nothing to gain for me from being a naughty boy at the back of the class.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>So what are the trio really like off camera? \u2018Jeremy\u2019s not quite as bombastic as he is on the show,\u2019 says Richard. \u2018James isn\u2019t as laid-back\u2026 and I\u2019m not as short!\u2019<\/p>\n<p><span>Richard Hammond\u2019s Workshop starts on 23 October on Discovery+.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/tvshowbiz\/article-12614829\/After-Freddie-Flintoff-injured-high-speed-crashes-Richard-Hammond-says-TV-bosses-reconsider-risky-stunts-Things-wrong-died.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After he and Freddie Flintoff were injured in high-speed crashes, Richard Hammond says TV bosses must reconsider risky stunts: &#8216;Things<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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