\n The presenter, who hosted Top Gear and The Grand Tour with farmer Jeremy Clarkson and James May, has strong links to York having worked for BBC Radio York and being involved in a crash while filming for Top Gear at RAF Elvington airfield in 2006.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was also educated at Ripon Grammar School and Harrogate College when he was younger.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Hammond has now opened up about the financial and personal upheaval he has experienced following a series of major changes in his life, with the Mirror claiming he lost “half” of his fortune from the Prime Video show.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 56-year-old separated from his wife, Mindy Hammond, after 28 years of marriage and has also faced the death of his father and his dog.\n<\/p>\n
\n Speaking on the High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey, the TV star reflected on the extent to which his life has changed and how he has attempted to rebuild it on his own terms.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “Don’t forget, I’ve also, in the last two years, lost my father, my dog, my marriage, my house [laughter] and a chunk of the money I earned from The Grand Tour .”\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite the upheaval, Mr Hammond revealed that one of his happiest periods came after he moved into a rented property following his separation.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “The happiest I’ve been in years was living in a rented cottage, my divorce cottage.”\n<\/p>\n
\n After suddenly leaving his former home, Mr Hammond contacted a friend who owned a large estate to ask whether there was somewhere he could live.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was offered a small farmhouse called Camp Farm, where he remained for around a year.\n<\/p>\n
\n The presenter said the property contained little furniture and could become cold during the winter, but found that the simpler way of living brought unexpected happiness.\n<\/p>\n
\n Friends who came to see him were visiting to spend time with him rather than admire his home or car collection.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Hammond also recalled cooking Sunday roasts for groups of around 14 people, moving furniture and bringing an outdoor table inside to accommodate his guests.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “And I lived there for, like, a year, and I bloody loved it.”\n<\/p>\n
\n His comments come after Hamster’s Wheel Productions, the company founded by Mr Hammond and his former wife in 2008, entered voluntary liquidation after 18 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n Documents filed at Companies House, according to the original report, showed the business had \u00a32.3 million and was owed a further \u00a31.45 million, with \u00a3176,573 recoverable from the Government in corporation tax payments.\n<\/p>\n
\n The company had been involved in programmes including Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab, Wild Weather and Lab Rats.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Hammond has also invested his own money into his classic car restoration business, which features in Richard Hammond’s Workshop.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the podcast, Mr Humphrey raised the \u00a3500,000 which the presenter had invested in the venture.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Hammond responded: “And since then, I’ve got divorced. So it’s not altogether brilliant.”\n<\/p>\n
\n However, his changing fortunes have also brought a new chapter in his personal life.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Hammond confirmed earlier this year that he was in a new relationship following the end of his marriage.\n<\/p>\n
\n Writing about his routine for The Telegraph, he said: “I tend to eat relatively early. Sometimes it’s just me; sometimes I’m with my girlfriend; sometimes friends are still around. I’m perfectly happy with a quiet evening watching television.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The presenter, who hosted Top Gear and The Grand Tour with farmer Jeremy Clarkson and James May, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-828943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}