Photo: Instagram/Richard Hammond
Not that it needed saying anymore, but Richard Hammond is both articulate and incredibly funny. He tells amazing stories that entertain, deliver insight and amuse at the same time.
This is particularly true when it comes to his personal life.
You’d expect a TV personality as famous as Hammond to be a good storyteller: after all, you don’t get to enjoy this kind of stay, whether in showbiz or the auto community, without being able to deliver compelling narratives. This time, Hammond recalls the hard times he faced before finding fame and how his love of motorcycles almost doomed him – and saved him at the same time.
Hammond is now worth an estimated £15 million ($20.5 million), but back in the day when he was working in local radio, he would take out loans to buy motorcycles. One day, he says on the Andy Jaye podcast, his credit card maxed out when he was out grocery shopping, and he realized he was “beyond broke.”
“I was always in debt for some stupid motorcycle I'd bought on a loan,” Hammond says. “Totally flat, totally broke. I was beyond broke. The only option was to go to my motorcycle, which I kept in a shed behind a pub opposite – I’d manage to blag that... I rode the bike to Accrington.”
With a heavy heart, he rode the bike to all the dealers and sold it to the one who offered him the highest amount. And then… Hammond “walked home […] with the cash for loo roll.” If that’s not a relatable yet still amazing story of pre-fame life, nothing is.
As fans must know, Hammond has always been very open about the kind of trouble his love of bikes and cars gets him into. He’s told stories of this type before, and he’s always credited his poor finances on his uncontrollable love for these machines. More recently in October last year, when he was briefly reunited with his beloved Ferrari 550, which he could have bought but refused to because his wife would have killed him if he did.
You’d expect a TV personality as famous as Hammond to be a good storyteller: after all, you don’t get to enjoy this kind of stay, whether in showbiz or the auto community, without being able to deliver compelling narratives. This time, Hammond recalls the hard times he faced before finding fame and how his love of motorcycles almost doomed him – and saved him at the same time.
Hammond is now worth an estimated £15 million ($20.5 million), but back in the day when he was working in local radio, he would take out loans to buy motorcycles. One day, he says on the Andy Jaye podcast, his credit card maxed out when he was out grocery shopping, and he realized he was “beyond broke.”
“I was always in debt for some stupid motorcycle I'd bought on a loan,” Hammond says. “Totally flat, totally broke. I was beyond broke. The only option was to go to my motorcycle, which I kept in a shed behind a pub opposite – I’d manage to blag that... I rode the bike to Accrington.”
With a heavy heart, he rode the bike to all the dealers and sold it to the one who offered him the highest amount. And then… Hammond “walked home […] with the cash for loo roll.” If that’s not a relatable yet still amazing story of pre-fame life, nothing is.
As fans must know, Hammond has always been very open about the kind of trouble his love of bikes and cars gets him into. He’s told stories of this type before, and he’s always credited his poor finances on his uncontrollable love for these machines. More recently in October last year, when he was briefly reunited with his beloved Ferrari 550, which he could have bought but refused to because his wife would have killed him if he did.
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