Clarkson and May have both written new articles at TopGear.com about Hammond. Both are very excellent reads and Clarkson even mentions some of the stuff coming up in this new season:

And in the series currently sitting on the shelves waiting for Richard to be better, we have tested tractors, built our own stretched limos, and repaired a stretch of road in Warwickshire.

Clarkson’s article can be found here and May’s article can be found here. I recommend you read both.

Ecstatic Richard Hammond got back behind the wheel of a car yesterday for the first time since his horror crash and said: “I will remember this day for the rest of my life”.

He took his wife Mindy for a spin in his Morgan sports car after being given the go-ahead by doctors to drive again.

Read the full article at Mirror.co.uk.

James May broke his wrist during a recent presentation of MPH’06 (a live Top Gear of sorts set on a stage). He wrote about it in an article in today’s Telegraph:

James May, the other bloke off Top Gear and co-host of this year’s MPH ’06 live motoring theatre, was last night said to be “severely hacked off” in his local pub after sustaining a suspected fractured wrist in a high-speed supermarket trolley crash.

May, 43, was performing a live stunt for the MPH extravaganza, billed as “human 10-pin bowling”. In this, he attempted to guide a modified shopping trolley, fitted with rudimentary steering, into 10 giant rubber skittles on the opposite side of the stage after being propelled by his co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson, driving a low-powered G-Wiz electric city car.

However, in what the show’s script described as a “humorous twist”, and supposedly unbeknown to May, the G-Wiz was replaced at the last moment with a 480bhp Ford Shelby Mustang. Members of the audience, many of whom filmed the tragedy on mobile phone cameras, have reported that the trolley reached a speed of “almost 20mph” before it struck the skittles and toppled sideways in a rather pathetic way.

The best part of the article though is the Hammond bit:

Richard Hammond, who was involved in a similar accident involving a jet-powered trolley some weeks ago, and who claimed to present the popular Sunday-night TV show Songs of Praise with May and Clarkson, told reporters: “Riding around in a supermarket trolley is the sort of thing that drunken 22-year-old men on a stag night would do. Sadly, it’s the sort of thing we would do as well.” Half an hour later, he told them the same thing again.

However, within minutes of that paragraph being written, the real Richard Hammond rang this column and said, “I’ve heard about your trolley crash. That’s pathetic. I hope you’re not going to use it as an excuse to make some more cheap gags about my short-term memory loss, because it’s been greatly exaggerated and anyway, I’m better now.” Even after several hours he had not rung to repeat himself, so he might have a point, unless he simply forgot to call back.

Man I love James May.

Jay Leno has an article in the Times Online about Richard Hammond and Top Gear. Great read.

As with many people passionate about cars, I got thinking after Richard Hammond’s accident — on a number of levels. I hear there is talk about Top Gear getting toned down. That would be a shame.

Top Gear is the best motoring programme in the world. It’s classic British spirit with a healthy dose of civil disobedience, and that makes for a healthy atmosphere.

As the doctors predicted, Richard is currently having issues with depression. This is not unusual and it part of the normal recovery process which basically means things are still going well for him (thank goodness). The Sun has more on his depression.

It’s been mentioned here and there for a while now that Richard would hopefully be ready to start filming again this January, but that had yet to be confirmed, that is until now. Check out this interview with Jeremy Clarkson at MPH ’06 care of the BBC:

Jeremy Clarkson has said his Top Gear co-star Richard Hammond is “completely fixed” after his high speed crash while filming for the show last month.

“He’s completely fixed after his minor crash… the only thing that’s really breaking his heart is he has chipped one of his whitened teeth,” he said.

Clarkson, speaking at the Motor Show in Birmingham, said there were no plans to change Top Gear following the incident.

He said senior people at the BBC told him “you carry on, do what you do”.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6088264.stm

In it’s series of articles on Richard, the Daily Mirror has an interview today with the man himself and how he’s doing. He was also surprised by all of the public outpouring of love for him after the crash.

They even have a picture of him looking well:

There’s an interview with Hammond’s wife in today’s Daily Mirror that you might find interesting.

Rather than making a post for each article, here’s a list of a bunch of new articles on his recovery.

• “Richard Hammond Exclusive: The Day I Died” — Mirror.co.uk
• “Hammond Exclusive: ‘I Felt Mad As A Bag Of Snakes. My Mind Was Like A Foreign Place, Nothing In It But Blankness’” — Mirror.co.uk
• “Hammond Exclusive: ‘I Had This Incredible Physical Longing To See The Kids..They Have Been So Brave’” — Mirror.co.uk
• “Richard: Lego Saved My Life” — Mirror.co.uk
• “Top Gear presenter ‘nearly died’” — BBC News
• BBC has offered Hammond a £2 million deal to stay — Scotsman.com