Unofficial Richard Hammond Fan Site

Sex drive; WOMEN LUST AFTER TOP GEAR'S RICHARD

RICHARD Hammond is the first to admit that going on television increases your sex appeal.

And if you're a TV regular, like Top Gear presenter Richard has become, then you are likely to get lots of attention.

One fan has created a website in his honour called Hammond Heaven, with a whole section dedicated to discussions about which shirts he looks sexiest in.

One girl posted a typical internet message saying 'He's gorgeous! I have very little interest in cars, but am still glued to Top Gear every week.'

But it can be overwhelming. Richard confesses that getting chatted up by one group of girls left him so frightened that he ran away!

'If I was sitting in a nightclub two years ago, I wouldn't be looked at twice. Now people notice me because I'm on telly,' says Richard, who grew up in Solihull.

'The attention from women is nice - I've had a few very saucy letters - but it's also unnerving. I had to leave a nightclub in Glasgow because I was too scared! Predatory women can be frightening, and when a group of them came on strong I ran back to my hotel.

'Apparently I've also got a bit of a gay following, and I have been wolf-whistled by men. The attention is flattering, whoever it's from!

'I'd be lying if I said the celebrity side of my job wasn't fun, most of the time. But I haven't had the nerve to use my fame. If I said 'Don't you know who I am?', I'm worried they'd go 'Who?'.'

There's little danger of that, thanks to Richard's heavy workload. In the last few weeks he has presented Top Gear on BBC2, BBC1's Should I Worry About? and Sky One's Brainiac: Science Abuse.

Later this month he's discussing TV's Greatest Cars on Sky One and in January he presents a new, revamped series of BBC2's Time Commanders, in which contestants refight ancient battles using computers.

'It's great fun. I am very lucky to be working on things which interest me, like cars, science and history,' says Richard, who lives on four acres on the Herefordshire/Gloucestershire border near Ledbury with his wife, young daughters and assorted animals.

'I'm having to rein in my work as there's a danger of overexposure. I don't say yes to everything, far from it. I turn down about a series a week at the moment - they come my way without me asking for them. I haven't regretted any decisions, especially as some of the series haven't done too well!

'I have been working seven days a week and travelling a lot. I'm just off to film in Switzerland and then Norway.

'I rent a flat in London and I bring my family there if I'm going to be away from the Midlands for too long.

'But it is hard to be away so much. I'm missing my eldest daughter's nativity play this week, which I feel terrible about.

'I last had some time off when we went on holiday to the Greek island of Kefalonia earlier this year. But our youngest decided to start teething so we had a rotten time. Then again, I'm not very good at holidays. I like working.'

Richard also admits he has been taking on extra work to save up for his latest car purchase.

He already owns two battered Land Rovers and a 1979 Porsche 928, but his latest acquisition is a 1969 Dodge Charger, imported from America at a cost of pounds 26,000. Its only downside is that it's bright green, a colour called Sublime.

'I've always wanted one,' he says. 'They're glamorous but quite ridiculous and make me laugh. The colour is distinctive and not good if you're feeling shy, so I might have to get it painted black.'

It's a good job that Richard has a sense of humour, as his Top Gear colleagues are always making fun of him - and his diminutive stature.

'Actually I'm not that small and it wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't working with the world's tallest TV presenter! I'm 5 ft 7, but it looks shorter because Jeremy Clarkson is ridiculously tall, about a foot taller than me.'

He may be jokingly referred to as a schoolboy by his colleagues, but his childish joy in his work is one reason why viewers like him.

'In this job I get to do loads of exciting things. It really is a privilege working in telly, but it's very easy to become blase about it. So I've worked hard to maintain my boyish enthusiasm and not get jaded.

'When I'm test driving a Ferrari, I try to remember what it was like to drive a Ferrari for the first time. It's still thrilling.'

NAME: Richard Hammond

AGE: 34

FAMILY: Wife Amanda, whom he met when he worked in PR for Renault. Daughters Isabella, four, and 15-month-old Willow. His parents, solicitor Alan and Eileen, sang at folk clubs around the Midlands and ran a Cub Scout pack in Solihull. His younger brothers are Andrew and Nicholas, while his grandfather worked for Jensen in West Bromwich.

FIRST JOB: After an education at fee-paying Solihull School, Richard became a roving reporter for BBC Radio York while also working part-time in a petrol station. His first TV job was presenting a programme on satellite channel Men and Motors.

FANCY THAT: At seven Richard wrote to the Jim'll Fix It TV show asking to drive a Land Rover, but never heard back. He failed his driving test at 17 after putting his foot down through traffic lights turning red.

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