Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster and journalist who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May. He also writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun.

From a career as a local journalist in the north of England, he rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of Top Gear in 1988. Since the mid-1990s Clarkson has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows and appearing as a guest on other shows. As well as motoring, Clarkson has produced programmes and books on subjects such as history and engineering. From 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own chat show, Clarkson.

His opinionated but humorous tongue in cheek writing and presenting style has often generated much public reaction towards his viewpoints. His actions both privately and as a Top Gear presenter have also sometimes resulted in criticism from the media, politicians, pressure groups and the public. Read more

Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969), nicknamed “Hamster” due to his name and small stature, is a British presenter of radio and television, best known for co-presenting the television programme Top Gear since 2002. Along with his Top Gear co-hosts James May and Jeremy Clarkson, Hammond also presents Top Gear Live at the annual MPH motorshow in Earls Court and Birmingham NEC.

He has also presented Brainiac: Science Abuse, Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab, and writes a weekly column for The Daily Mirror.

Along with Amanda Byram, he is currently presenting Total Wipeout, a British gameshow, Richard Hammond’s Engineering Connections and Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab.

In September 2006 he suffered serious brain injury after crashing a jet car he was testing for Top Gear at high speeds (288.3 mph, 464.0 km/h). At the end of January 2007, after Hammond had recovered from his injuries, Top Gear was back on screen in the United Kingdom and showed the footage of the crash. Read more

James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is a British television presenter and award-winning journalist.

May is best known as co-presenter of the motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He also writes a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph’s motoring section. On Top Gear, his nickname is “Captain Slow”, owing to his ‘careful’ driving style. He has, however, carried out some exceptionally high-speed driving (including taking a Bugatti Veyron to its top speed during an episode of Top Gear.)

Early and personal life

James May was born in Bristol, one of four children; he had two sisters and a brother. In early years James attended Caerleon Endowed Junior School in Newport, Monmouthshire. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church. Rotherham is the town where Jeremy Clarkson began his journalistic career. He was also at school with Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes star Dean Andrews. A keen flautist and pianist, he later studied music at Lancaster University, where he was a member of Pendle College. May currently lives in Hammersmith, London with his cat Fusker, who was a gift from Richard Hammond’s wife, Mindy and has been dating the music journalist and dance critic Sarah Frater since 2000. Read more

The Stig is the name given to Top Gear’s anonymous racing driver. In the show he is cast as a mysterious “untame racing driver” whose identity is unknown, and who never speaks or removes his helmet on camera. Nonetheless he is fully credited as a presenter, albeit as “The Stig”, alongside Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

The Stig’s primary functions on the show are to post lap times in various cars around the Top Gear Test Track in Dunsfold Park, and to train each week’s guest in setting a lap time in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car feature on the show. In addition the Stig carries out other driving duties when the need arises.

The Stig has also appeared on some of Jeremy Clarkson’s motoring specials, such as Heaven and Hell and Thriller.

Origins

The Stig’s name derives from presenter Jeremy Clarkson’s days at Repton School; where, according to Clarkson, new students were always called “Stig”. A proposed name for the Stig was originally “The Gimp” until protests from Perry McCarthy put a stop to the idea. There have been two official Stigs on the show, while various other Stigs have made cameo appearances for particular episodes. Read more

Sabine Schmitz (born 14 May 1969), is a German former professional motor racing driver for BMW, now known for driving the BMW “Ring taxi” around the Nürburgring race track as well as being a television personality.

Biography

Born to the local hotel and restaurant owning Schmitz family, Sabine and her two elder sisters grew up in the “Hotel am Tiergarten” (in the basement of which is the Pistenklause restaurant) in Nürburg within the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Sabine trained as Hotelfachfrau and Sommelière. During her marriage to a hotelier she lived in Pulheim, but after her divorce in 2000, up until 2003, she owned a bar-restaurant in Nürburg named the Fuchsröhre (Foxhole) after a track section. In 2004 she qualified as a helicopter pilot. Read more

Jason Dawe is a British motoring journalist and television presenter.

Born and raised in Cornwall, England, Dawe worked at auto dealerships and as a motoring industry trainer. Dawe became a presenter on the Top Gear television show on its first series after it was relaunched in 2002. His main part in the show was to present different bargains for cars, as opposed to the super car reviews and entertaining motoring challenges, which were done by the two other presenters, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. James May replaced Jason as the third presenter in Top Gear’s second post-relaunch series.

Jason is a regular columnist in The Sunday Times motoring section, where he has written extensively about used cars. Together with Nick Rufford of The Sunday Times he has also made many video broadcasts of car reviews. He writes for many other motoring magazines and is a regular contributor to radio and TV shows as a motoring expert. Read more

Russ Swift is a British driver who is known for performing stunts and for precision driving.

Career

Starting out as a rally co-driver, and later moving into the sport of Autotesting, Russ Swift has built his career on a sturdy motorsport foundation. After being asked to demonstrate his driving skills locally, Russ realised there could be a demand for precision driving skills to be displayed nationwide.

Swift’s driving skills were memorably put to the test in 1987, when he performed stunts in a crowded parking lot in an Austin Montego for a television advertisement. The close-ups were done by an actor, but Swift (uncredited) was responsible for the driving. It was during the filming of the advertisement that Russ came up with the Parallel Park manœuvre, which has remained his “trademark” to this day. Russ holds the world record for this manœuvre, parking in a space just 33cm longer than the car. The Montego “Car Park” commercial was featured at the Cannes Film Festival and in an American review it was deemed the world’s most imaginative car commercial. Read more

Andrew “Andy” Wilman is a British television producer who is best known as the producer of the present Top Gear show. He has also presented segments of the original Top Gear.

Works

After the original Top Gear was cancelled by the BBC, Wilman and his fellow ex-presenter Jeremy Clarkson pitched a new format and succeeded in getting permission for a new show. Apart from Top Gear, Wilman has worked with Clarkson on a number of other television projects. Read more

Is owned by Richard Hammond.

As a labradoodle, she is a crossbreed or hybrid. She was originally going to be named ‘Prius’ after the hybrid car, the Toyota Prius. But this was deemed too ‘cruel’ because Top Gear is a motor enthusiast program. The Toyota Prius is a heavily loathed car amongst the ‘petrolhead’ presenters because of its awful lack of power. Also, she was expected to eat a lot more than expected, contradicting the fuel economy of the Prius car.

Top Gear Dog was introduced in Series 8 to try and keep the show fresh and exciting. She only lasted for the season however, mysteriously absent at the beginning of Series 9 with no explanation. Read more