Richard Hammond’s short-term memory has been damaged by his car accidents.
The ‘Grand Tour’ presenter has cheated death twice after being involved in two serious motoring accidents, one which left him in a coma for two weeks 11 years ago, and another which saw his £2 million supercar tumble down a slope in the Swiss Alps in June before bursting into flames, leaving him badly shaken and with a fractured knee, and his co-host Jeremy Clarkson claims the incidents have left him with "brain damage" that stops him from retaining information.
Jeremy told the Sunday People newspaper: "You can tell him something and five seconds later it is gone out of his head.
"Well it is not his fault, it is because he cannot drive and he went upside down and damaged his brain.
"He has no capacity for remembering anything and some of it is because he has had brain damage."
Despite being involved in two terrifying accidents, Richard is still happy to throw himself into stunts on the show – but the 48-year-old presenter got knocked out after falling off a motorbike while shooting a special episode of ‘The Grand Tour’ in Mozambique.
He quipped: "Basically, what’s gone wrong is I keep getting injured."
But the presenters, who are joined by James May on the show, had a brilliant time shooting the special and couldn’t stop themselves from laughing.
Jeremy, 57, said: "There are moments where I laughed so much, you know that dangerous laughter when you think, ‘If I do not breathe in I’ll suffocate.’ "
Richard, who has two daughters with wife Mindy, previously admitted his 2006 crash had left him battling depression, paranoia and memory loss but insisted his issues were behind him.
He said: "I damaged my head and spent a long time staring through hospital windows contemplating my own sanity.
"Mindy speaks of seeing me sitting at the kitchen table and just watching every emotion imaginable dance across my face and they were deep-seated and real. That was difficult.
"My memory was messy for a bit. My moods could run away with me. I had to try very consciously and very hard to control that – be it depression, obsession or anger.
"I was lucky, I was surrounded by a loving family and some great support.
"Now my head is all straight – as straight as anybody’s head ever is."
Richard Hammond’s memory problems
