Richard
17th-century portrait of Richard the Lionheart, a 12th-century King of England
Pronunciation	/ˈrɪtʃərd/
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/Name	Proto-Germanic
Meaning	powerful leader
Other names
Nickname(s)	Rich, Rick, Dick, Ricardo, Richie, Dickie, Richardo, Rico, Richtard, Reeks

Look up Richard in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The first or given name Richard derives from German, French, and English "ric" (ruler, leader, king) and "hard" (strong, brave, court), therefore it means "powerful leader" as well as "King's Court".^[1] The name Richard is most often used as a boy name or male name.

Richard is a typical name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Swedish and Dutch.

People named Richard[link]

Rulers and aristocrats[link]

• Richard I of England or Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199)
• Richard II of England (1367–1400)
• Richard III of England (1452–1485)
• Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (1473-1483?), who would have been Richard IV of England if he had lived
• Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (1411-1460), a principal participant in the Wars of the Roses
• Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272), elected King of Germany
• Richard, Duke of Burgundy (died 921)
• Richard I, Duke of Normandy (933-996)
• Richard II, Duke of Normandy (died 1026), son of Richard I of Normandy
• Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington (1612-1698), Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and a cavalier
• Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753), instrumental in the revival of Palladian architecture
• Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester (1222-1262)
• Richard fitz Gilbert (before 1035-c. 1090), Norman lord involved in the conquest of England
• Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel (c. 1306-1376), English military leader
• Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel (1346-1397), English military commander
• Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple (1711-1779), British politician and associate and brother-in-law of William Pitt
• Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh (1641-1712), Irish peer, and politician both in the Parliaments of England and Ireland
• Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428-1471), wealthy English magnate and major protagonist in the Wars of the Roses
• Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400-1460), Yorkist leader in the Wars of the Roses
• Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers (c. 1660-1712), soldier and noted rake
• Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1797-1861), noted for squandering his great wealth
• Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1823-1889), British soldier, politician and administrator
• Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (1760-1842), Anglo-Irish Governor-General of India, Foreign Secretary in the British Cabinet and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, brother of the 1st Duke of Wellington
• Richard I of Capua (died 1078), King of Capua and Count of Aversa
• Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (1259-1326)

In politics and government[link]

• Richard Acland (1906-1990), one of the founders of the British Common Wealth Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Richard "Dick" Cheney (born 1941), Vice President of the United States under George W. Bush
• Richard Court (born 1947), Australian politician, former Premier of Western Australia
• Richard Cromwell (1626-1712), son of Oliver Cromwell, and his successor as Lord Protector of England
• Richard J. Daley (1902-1976), mayor of Chicago
• Richard M. Daley (born 1942), American former state senator and mayor of Chicago, son of Richard J. Daley
• Richard Hatfield (1931-1991), Canadian politician, Premier of New Brunswick
• Richard Nixon (1913-1994), only President of the United States to resign from office
• Richard Rush (1780-1859), United States Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury
• Richard Stockton (U.S. Senator) (1764-1828)

Businesspeople[link]

• Richard DeVos (born 1926), American businessman and co-founder of Amway
• Richard Jacobs (businessman) (1925-2009), real estate businessman and owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball team
• Richard Warren Sears (1863-1914), co-founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and considered a promotional genius

Religious figures[link]

• Saint Richard (disambiguation)
• Richard of Dover (died 1184), Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Canterbury
• Richard Foxe (c. 1448-1528), Bishop of Exeter, Bath and Wells, Durham, and Winchester, Lord Privy Seal, and founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford

In music[link]

Classical[link]

• Richard Strauss (1864-1949), German composer and conductor
• Richard Wagner (1813-1883), German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist

Other[link]

• Richard Butler (singer) (born 1956), lead singer of the Psychedelic Furs
• Richard Carpenter (musician) (born 1946), one half of the Carpenters
• Ringo Starr (born 1940), real name Richard Starkey, drummer of The Beatles

Actors[link]

• Richard Attenborough (born 1923), English actor, director, producer and entrepreneur
• Richard Burbage (1568-1619), English actor and theatre owner
• Richard Burton (1925-1984), Welsh actor
• Richard Chamberlain (born 1934), American actor
• Richard Dean Anderson (born 1950), American actor
• Richard Dreyfuss (born 1947), American actor
• Richard Harris (1930-2002), Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer
• Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer
• Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality

Explorers[link]

• Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat
• Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957), U.S. Navy rear admiral, aviator and explorer

Military figures[link]

• Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (1726-1799), British naval commander in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars
• Richard Taylor (general) (1826-1879), American Civil War Confederate general

In sports[link]

• Richard Newland (1713-1778), English cricketer
• Richard Petty (born 1937), former NASCAR driver
• Richard Sears (tennis) (1861-1943), winner of seven consecutive U.S. Championships

Scientists[link]

• Richard Feynman (1918-1988), American Nobel Prize-winning physicist
• Richard Leakey (born 1944), politician, paleoanthropologist and conservationist

Other[link]

• Richard Garriott (born 1961), video game developer and entrepreneur
• Richard Maury (1882-1950), American naturalized Argentine engineer

Cognates/transliterations[link]

Indo-European Germanic languages[link]

• Dutch: Rijkert, Rikkert, Richard, Rick
• Icelandic: Ríkharður
• Low German: Ri(c)kert
• Scandinavian: Rickard, Richard, Rikard, Ríkarður

Indo-European Latin languages[link]

• Catalan and Occitan: Ricard
• French: Richard
• Italian: Riccardo
• Latin: Richardus
• Portuguese: Ricardo
• Spanish: Ricardo

Indo-European Slavic languages[link]

• Croatian: Rikard
• Czech: Richard
• Polish: Ryszard
• Russian: Ричард (Richard)
• Slovene: Rihard
• Ukrainian: Річард (Richard)

Other Indo-European languages[link]

• Breton: Richarzh
• Esperanto: Rikardo
• Greek: Ριχάρδος (Richárdos)
• Irish: Risteárd, Riocard
• Latvian: Ričards, Rihards
• Lithuanian: Ričardas
• Persian: ریچارد (Ritchard)
• Scottish Gaelic: Ruiseart
• Welsh: Rhisiart

Other languages[link]

• Arabic: ريتشارد (Rytshrd, Ritshrd, Rytshard, Ritshard)
• Basque: Rikard
• Chinese: 理查德 (Lĭchádé)
• Finnish: Rikhard
• Hebrew: ריצ'רד (Ritzard)
• Hungarian: Richárd
• Japanese: リチャード (Richado)
• Korean: 리차드
• Saami: Rikkar

Short forms[link]

• Czech: Ríša
• English: Rick, Rich, Dick, Dickie, Rik, Ric
• Estonian: Riho
• Finnish: Riku
• Hungarian: Ricsi, Ricsike, Rics
• Polish: Rysio, Rysiek, Ryś
• Portuguese: Rico, Ric
• Slovak: Rišo, Riško, Riči
• Spanish: Cayo (Guatemala)

Pet forms[link]

• English: Ricky, Rickie, Rikki, Richie, Richy, Richu, Rich, Dickie

References[link]

• 2. Meaning of Richard (English)

• 3. Meaning of Richard (French)

Richard Sulík
5th Speaker of National Council of the Slovak Republic
In office 8 July 2010 – 13 October 2011
Preceded by	Pavol Paška
Succeeded by	Pavol Hrušovský
Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 June 2010
Personal details
Born	(1968-01-12) 12 January 1968 (age 44) Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Political party	Freedom and Solidarity (2009–present)

Richard Sulík (born 12 January 1968) is a Slovak economist, businessman and politician. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity.

Life[link]

Born 1968 in the then Czechoslovakia, Sulík emigrated in 1980 with his parents to then West Germany, where they lived in the city of Pforzheim. In 1987 he went to Munich to study physics and later economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University. When the borders were reopened right after the end of the cold war, Sulík returned in 1991 to Czechoslovakia. While still a student at the University of Economics in Bratislava, he founded and ran the company FaxCOPY.

When he graduated in 2003, Sulík was working as a special advisor of the Slovak Minister of Finance Ivan Miklos, whom he convinced to take his master thesis as a blueprint for the 2004 Slovak tax reform. This tax reform, introducing a 19% flat tax on all types of income and a 19% value added tax, was believed to be the single most important reform leading to the large increase of foreign investment in Slovakia and the economic boom period. After the reform was put through, he remained in the Advisory Board of the Ministry.

Between 2004 and 2006, Sulìk was CEO of a municipal waste disposal company OLO. He then returned as special advisor to the Ministry of Finance under Ján Počiatek in order to further evolve the tax system. In 2009, Sulík founded the neoliberal^{[citation needed]} political party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) which he leads as Chairman.^[1] In 2010 he replaced Pavol Paška as the Speaker of Parliament.^[2]

Financial Crisis[link]

On 14 September 2011, Richard Sulik, the President of the Parliament and leader of his Party, which is member of the ALDE, the 3rd largest political party of the European Parliament, announced that he will not vote for an increase of the funds for the E.F.S.F. and that he finds as a better solution for the rest of the Eurozone member countries, to let Greece go bankrupt.

On 11 October 2011, his party did not vote for the European Financial Stability Facility enlargement even though Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová tied the vote with a confidence vote for the government, thus toppling the Slovak government.

See also[link]

• Politics of Slovakia

References[link]

External links[link]

• (Slovak) Richard Sulík's homepage
• (Slovak) Richard Sulík's blog

v t e Speakers of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič (1993-1998)  · Jozef Migaš (1998-2002)  · Pavol Hrušovský (2002-2006)  · Béla Bugár(acting) (2006)  · Pavol Paška (2006-2010)  · Richard Sulík (2010-2011)  · Pavol Hrušovský (2011-2012)  · Pavol Paška (2012-present)

Richard Hammond
Hammond in May 2006.
Born	Richard Mark Hammond (1969-12-19) 19 December 1969 (age 42)[1] Solihull, Warwickshire, England
Residence	Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire, England
Other names	Hamster
Education	Solihull School Ripon Grammar School
Alma mater	Harrogate College of Art and Technology
Occupation	Broadcaster, journalist, author, media personality, talk and game show host, voice-over artist
Years active	1998, 2002–present
Employer	BBC, The Daily Mirror (prev. ITV & Sky)
Known for	Presenting: Brainiac: Science Abuse Crufts Should I Worry About...? The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show Top Gear Petrolheads Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel Total Wipeout Richard Hammond's Blast Lab Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds
Home town	Solihull, West Midlands, England
Height	5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m)[2]
Spouse	Amanda Etheridge (m. 2002) «start: (2002-05-04)»"Marriage: Amanda Etheridge to Richard Hammond" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Richard_Hammond)
Children	2
Parents	Eileen and Alan Hammond

Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting the car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting series 1–4 of Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1. Since 2009, Hammond has co-hosted Total Wipeout with Amanda Byram on BBC One which has since been cancelled.

Hammond is currently presenting Planet Earth Live alongside Julia Bradbury.

Early life[link]

Hammond was born in Solihull and is the grandson of workers in the Birmingham automobile industry.^[3][4] In the mid-1980s Hammond moved with his family (mother Eileen, father Alan, and younger brothers Andrew, writer of the 'Crypt' Series, and Nicholas) to the North Yorkshire cathedral city of Ripon where his father ran a probate business in the market square. Originally a pupil of Solihull School, a fee-paying boys' independent school, he moved to Ripon Grammar School, and from 1987 to 1989 attended Harrogate College of Art and Technology. After his graduation he worked for several radio stations, including Radio Cleveland, Radio York, Radio Cumbria, Radio Leeds, Radio Newcastle and Radio Lancashire, before auditioning for Top Gear.^[5]

Top Gear[link]

Hammond became a presenter on Top Gear in 2002, when the show began in its present format. He is sometimes referred to as "Hamster" by fans and his co-presenters on Top Gear due to his name and comparatively small stature.^[6] His nickname was further reinforced when on three separate occasions in series 7, Hammond ate cardboard,^[7] mimicking hamster-like behaviour. A running gag is Hammond's supposed use of teeth whitener.^[8] In a series 7 episode, co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson claimed to have found a pack of teeth whiteners in a Marcos TSO GT2 that Hammond had tested. Hammond objected, claiming it was a set-up. In a series 10 episode that featured the Peel P50, Clarkson was seen supposedly talking to Hammond on the phone about him considering a tooth whitening treatment costing £4000. Later, during a series 13 episode that featured the presenters in their office searching for car insurance prices, a teeth whitening kit was pictured on his desk. It was staged to appear that he was caught looking at a website on teeth whiteners on Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show.

In the first episode of series 9 broadcast on 28 January 2007, having recovered from his high speed crash Hammond returned to a hero's welcome, complete with dancing girls, aeroplane style stairs and fireworks. The show also contained images of the crash, which had made international headlines, with Hammond talking through the events of the day after which the audience broke into spontaneous applause. Hammond then requested that the crash never be mentioned on the show again, though all three Top Gear presenters have since referred to it in jokes during the news segment of the programme. He told his colleagues, "The only difference between me now, and before the crash, is that I like celery now and I didn't before".^[9]

During the third episode of series sixteen, Hammond suggested that no one would ever want to own a Mexican car, since cars are supposed to reflect national characteristics and so a Mexican car would be a "lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight oaf." Hammond finished with the remark "I'm sorry, but can you imagine waking up and remembering you're Mexican?!"^[10] Following complaints, the BBC defended the broadcast of this segment on the grounds that such national stereotyping was a "robust part" of traditional British humour.^[11]

Brainiac: Science Abuse[link]

In 2003, Hammond became the first presenter of Brainiac: Science Abuse; he was joined by Jon Tickle with Charlotte Hudson joining in series 2.^[12] After the fourth series it was announced that Hammond was no longer going to present the Sky1 show after he signed an exclusive deal with the BBC. Vic Reeves took his place as main presenter.^[13]

Other television work[link]

Early in his career, as well as his radio work, Hammond presented a number of daytime lifestyle shows and motoring programmes such as Motor Week on Men & Motors.

He presented the Crufts dog show in 2005, the 2004 and 2005 British Parking Awards, and has appeared on School's Out, a quiz show on BBC One where celebrities answer questions about things they learned at school. He has also presented The Gunpowder Plot: Exploding The Legend.^[14] Along with his work on Top Gear, he presented Should I Worry About...? on BBC One, Time Commanders on BBC Two and the first four series of Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky One. He was also a team captain on the BBC Two quiz show, Petrolheads, in which a memorable part was one where Hammond was tricked into smashing his classic Ferrari while trying to parallel park blindfolded in another car.

From 3 January 2006 until 10 February 2006, Hammond was the eponymous star of Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show with his co-star Mel Giedroyc of Light Lunch fame.^[15] The programme, which discussed a wide range of topics, was shown every weekday on ITV between 17:00 and 18:00.^[15]

In July 2005, Hammond was voted number one in a Heat magazine poll of top "weird celebrity crushes". Also in 2005 he was voted one of the top 10 British TV talents.^[16]

He presented Richard Hammond and the Holy Grail in 2006. During the special, he travelled to various locations around the world, including the Vatican Secret Archives, exploring the history of the Holy Grail.^[17]

In one episode of Top Gear, fellow presenter James May was mocked by both Hammond and Clarkson for being named the celebrity with the worst hairstyle, while Hammond was named the celebrity with the best.

As part of Red Nose Day 2007, Hammond stood for nomination via a public telephone vote, along with Andy Hamilton and Kelvin MacKenzie, to be a one-off co-presenter of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on 16 March 2007.^[18] However, he was defeated by Andy Hamilton.

In April 2007, Hammond presented a one off special on BBC Radio 2 for Good Friday followed by another in August 2007 for the Bank Holiday. He is scheduled to present more Bank Holiday specials for the station.

Hammond recorded an interview with the famed American stuntman Evel Knievel, which aired on 23 December 2007 on BBC One, and was Knievel's last interview before his death on 30 November 2007.^[19]

In September 2008, Hammond presented the first episode of a new series; Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections on the National Geographic Channel.^[20] In this show, Hammond discovers how the inventions of the past, along with assistance from nature, help designers today. Episodes include the building of the Airbus A380, Taipei 101 and the Keck Observatory.^[20] Series 2 of Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections began in May 2010 and has included the building of the Wembley Stadium and the Sydney Opera House.

Hammond also filmed an advertisement for Morrisons supermarkets in 2008,^[21] and joined the cast of TV show Ashes To Ashes for a special insert on the 2008 Children in Need special.

While in New Zealand for Top Gear Live 2009, Hammond filmed several television commercials for Telecom New Zealand's new XT UTMS mobile network. Telecom claimed that the new network was "faster in more places", compared to its competitors and its existing CDMA network. After the network repeatedly failed in late 2009 and early 2010, Hammond became the butt of a joke when he did not return to New Zealand for Top Gear Live 2010. His fellow Top Gear co-hosts said he was too embarrassed to come back to New Zealand, and in a supposed live feed back to Hammond, the feed suddenly drops out as the "XT Network had crashed".^[22] Hammond was later given the right of reply to his colleagues during an interview with Marcus Lush on RadioLIVE's breakfast show in New Zealand.^[23]

Hammond is currently hosting the UK version of the US series Wipeout, called Total Wipeout. It takes place in Argentina, and is co-presented by Hammond and Amanda Byram. Hammond presents and does the voiceover for the clips in a London studio, and Byram is filmed at the obstacle course in Buenos Aires.^[24]

Hammond also presented a science-themed game show for children, Richard Hammond's Blast Lab which aired on BBC Two and CBBC.^[25]

In March 2010, Hammond presented a 3 episode series called Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds, which looked at things too fast for the naked eye to see, things that are beyond the visible spectrum (e.g. ultraviolet and infra-red light), as well as microscopic things.

One of Hammond's lesser known television roles was as presenter of the BBC2 'gameshow' Time Commanders, a sophisticated warfare simulator which used a modified version of Creative Assembly's Rome: Total War game engine.^[26]

Since February 2011, Hammond has presented a online technology series "Richard Hammond's Tech Head".^[27]

In July 2011, Hammond presented a two-part natural science documentary Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet, focused on Earth geology and plate tectonics.^[28][29]

Hammond will also host the upcoming BBC America programme Richard Hammond's Crash Course.^[30]

Personal life[link]

Hammond has been married to Amanda Etheridge (mostly known as Mindy)^[31] since May 2002; the couple have two daughters.^[3] The family lives in a mock castle in Herefordshire and also has an apartment in London. Hammond also plays the bass guitar, on which he accompanied the other Top Gear presenters when they performed alongside Justin Hawkins on Top Gear of the Pops for Comic Relief in 2007. Hammond likes to ride his bicycle in cities, for which he is mocked mercilessly by fellow presenter Jeremy Clarkson.^[32]

Hammond is a fan of Porsche 911s and claims the Pagani Zonda to be the ultimate supercar. He once owned a 1982 Porsche 911 SC (sold in the mid-2000s),^[33][34] and later purchased a 2006 Porsche 911 (997) Carrera S.^[35] In 2004, Hammond purchased a Porsche 928 for the purpose of daily driving.^[36] Much unlike Clarkson and May, he also has an interest in American muscle cars. Hammond has owned a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T,^[36] a 1967 Ford Mustang GT 390,^[37] and a 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 (which was purchased in the United States on a Series 12 episode of Top Gear).^[38]

Hammond had also owned a Morgan AeroMax, in which he was involved in a car accident on 9 August 2009. He also owns a Jaguar E-Type^[39] and is also a fan of monster trucks, having attended Truckfest '07.

An interview with The Sunday Times in February 2008 reported Hammond as having moved briefly from Gloucestershire to Buckinghamshire, then back again because he missed the country life.^[40]

Hammond is a keen motorcyclist^[41] and Land Rover Defender fan. He spent over £70,000 rebuilding his 110 "Buster" in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

During the news segment of Top Gear's 2010 USA Road Trip special, Hammond openly expressed his dislike of the band Genesis. This fact was later exploited by his co-presenters in two special episodes: during the Middle East Special, when they installed a secret second stereo unit in his Fiat Barchetta that only plays the band's Live over Europe 2007 concert; in the India Special, Clarkson played the same song used in the previous special through the megaphone mounted in his Jaguar XJS, despite Hammond driving a different car (a Mini Cooper Sport).

In October it was reported he had spent over £2 million buying Bollitree Castle which is situated near Weston under Penyard, Ross-on-Wye. It has been rumoured he has also bought a large house in the small town of Wantage, Oxfordshire^{[citation needed]}.^[42][43]

On Top Gear in 2007, Hammond went to Africa on an 'Epic Road Trip' across Botswana. While there he found a 1963 Opel Kadett, in which he drove across Botswana. Hammond named it Oliver. On Top Gear a week after the special was aired, Hammond announced during the news, that he had shipped Oliver back to the UK, where it was restored by a team from Practical Classics magazine. Oliver features on Hammond's children's science television show Richard Hammond's Blast Lab and in another episode of Top Gear as a kind of "Hill-holder" in the trailer truck challenge (after it acquired the personal plate "OLI V3R"). Oliver is also mentioned in Hammond's second autobiography As You Do.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Hammond was the President of the 31st Herefordshire Country Fair held at Hampton Court in Hope under Dinmore. His involvement caused unprecedented attendance with "nearly 15,000 people" drawn to the event to meet the presenter.^[45]

In 2010, Hammond gained a private pilot licence PPL(H) in an R44 helicopter.

During season 18 of Top Gear it was revealed that he owns a Fiat 500 TwinAir.

Charity work[link]

Richard Hammond is a Vice-President of UK children's brain injury charity The Children's Trust, Tadworth.^[46]

[edit] Vampire dragster crash

During filming of a Top Gear segment at the former RAF Elvington airbase near York on 20 September 2006, Hammond was injured in the crash of the jet-powered car he was piloting.^{[47][48][49]:1} Hammond was travelling at 288 mph (463 km/h) at the time of the crash.^[50]

His vehicle, a dragster called Vampire, was theoretically capable of travelling at speeds of up to 370 mph (595 km/h).^[48] The vehicle was the same car that in 2000, piloted by Colin Fallows, set the British land speed record at 300.3 mph (483.3 km/h).^[49]:3[51] The Vampire was powered by a single Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus afterburning turbojet engine producing 10000 hp (7.5 MW).^[48][50]

Some accounts suggested that the accident occurred during an attempt to break the British land speed record,^[47][52] but the Health and Safety Executive report on the crash found that a proposal to try to officially break the record was vetoed in advance by Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman, due to the risks and complexities of such a venture.^[49]:4 (The report stated: "Runs were to be carried out in only one direction along a pre-set course on the Elvington runway. Vampire’s speed was to be recorded using GPS satellite telemetry. The intention was to record the maximum speed, not to measure an average speed over a measured course, and for [Hammond] to describe how it felt.")^[49]:1

Hammond was completing a seventh and final run to collect extra footage for the programme when his front-right tyre failed,^[49]:8[53] and, according to witness and first responder Dave Ogden, "one of the parachutes had deployed but it went on to the grass and spun over and over before coming to a rest about 100 yards from us."^[54] The emergency crew quickly arrived at the car, finding it inverted and partially embedded in the grass.^[52] During the roll, Hammond's helmet had embedded itself into the ground, flipping the visor up and forcing dirt into his mouth and left eye, damaging the eye. Rescuers felt a pulse and heard the unconscious Hammond breathing before the car was turned upright.^[52] Hammond was cut free with hydraulic shears, and placed on a backboard.^[49]:9 "He was regaining consciousness at that point and said he had some lower back pain".^[52] He was then transported by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to the neurological unit of the Leeds General Infirmary.^{[47][49]:9[55]} Hammond's family visited him at the hospital along with Top Gear co-presenters James May and Jeremy Clarkson.^[54][55] Clarkson wished Hammond well, saying "Both James and I are looking forward to getting our 'Hamster' back", referring to Hammond by his nickname.^[47][54]

The Health & Safety Executive report stated that "Hammond's instantaneous reaction to the tyre blow out seems to have been that of a competent high performance car driver, namely to brake the car and to try to steer into the skid. Immediately afterwards he also seems to have followed his training and to have pulled back on the main parachute release lever, thus shutting down the jet engine and also closing the jet and afterburner fuel levers. The main parachute did not have time to deploy before the car ran off the runway."^[49]:13 The HSE notes that, based on the findings of the North Yorkshire Police (who investigated the crash), "the accident may not have been recoverable", even if Hammond's efforts to react were as fast as "humanly possible".^[49]:13

The crash was shown on an episode of Top Gear on 28 January 2007; this was the first episode of the new series, which had been postponed pending Hammond's recovery. Hammond requested at the end of the episode that his fellow presenters never mention the crash again, a request which has been generally observed by both Hammond and the other presenters, although occasional oblique references have been made. On The Edge: My Story, which contains first hand accounts from both Hammond and his wife about the crash, immediate aftermath, and his recovery was published later that year.

In February 2008 Hammond gave an interview to The Sunday Times newspaper in which he described the effects of his brain injuries and the progression of his recovery.^[56] He reported suffering loss of memory, depression, and difficulties with emotional experiences, for which he was consulting a psychiatrist.^[56] He also talked about his recovery in a 2010 television programme where he interviewed Sir Stirling Moss and they discussed the brain injuries they had both received as a result of car crashes.^[57]

After the car crash the BBC website Have Your Say received more than 10,000 messages of good wishes and sympathy for Richard Hammond from people around the world.

Works[link]

TV shows[link]

Books[link]

Car books[link]

• Hammond, Richard (13 October 2005). What Not To Drive. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 276 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-84800-4. 
• Hammond, Richard (5 October 2006). Richard Hammond's Car Confidential. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 144 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-84445-7. 
• Hammond, Richard (28 May 2009). A Short History of Caravans in the UK. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 144 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-84446-4. 
• Hammond, Richard (20 May 2010). Richard Hammond's Caravan Confidential. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 144 pages. ISBN 978-0-7538-2671-3. 

Children's books[link]

• Hammond, Richard (29 June 2006). Can You Feel the Force?: Putting the Fizz Back into Physics. Dorling Kindersley Publishers. pp. 96 pages. ISBN 978-1-4053-1543-2. 
• Hammond, Richard (2 June 2008). Car Science (Hardback). Dorling Kindersley Publishers. pp. 96 pages. ISBN 978-1-4053-3200-2. 
• Hammond, Richard (1 September 2008). Car Science (Paperback). Dorling Kindersley Publishers. pp. 96 pages. ISBN 978-0-7566-4026-2. 

Biographies[link]

• Hammond, Richard (20 September 2007). On The Edge: My Story (Hardback). Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 308 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-85327-5. 
• Hammond, Richard (29 May 2008). On The Edge: My Story (Paperback). Phoenix. pp. 308 pages. ISBN 978-0-7538-2404-7. 
• Hammond, Richard (7 August 2008). On The Edge: My Story (Abridged). Phoenix. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 978-0-7538-2330-9. 
• Hammond, Richard (18 September 2008). As You Do: Adventures with Evel, Oliver and the Vice-President of Botswana (Hardback). Orion Publishing Co. pp. 268 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-85520-0. 
• Hammond, Richard (28 May 2009). As You Do: Adventures with Evel, Oliver and the Vice-President of Botswana (Paperback). Orion Publishing Co. pp. 314 pages. ISBN 978-0-7538-2562-4. 
• Hammond, Richard (1 October 2009). Or Is That Just Me? (Hardback). Phoenix. pp. 256 pages. ISBN 978-0-297-85521-7. 
• Hammond, Richard (20 May 2010). Or Is That Just Me? (Paperback). Phoenix. pp. 352 pages. ISBN 978-0-7538-2562-4. 

DVDs[link]

1. Top Gear Interactive Challenge Quiz (2007, 2|Entertain).
2. Top Gear Interactive Stunt Challenge Quiz (2008, 2|Entertain).
3. Top Gear Uncovered: The DVD Special (2009, 2|Entertain).
4. Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections: Series One (2009, Nat Geo DVD).
5. Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds (2010, 2|Entertain).
6. Top Gear: Apocalypse (With James May) (2010, 2|Enertain).
7. Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections: Series Two (2010, Nat Geo DVD).
8. Hammond Meets Moss (2010, Acorn Media UK).
9. Richard Hammond's Journey To The Centre Of The Planet (2011, 2|Entertain).
10. Top Gear: At The Movies (With James May) (2011, 2|Entertain).
11. Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections: Series Three (2011, Nat Geo DVD).

Television advertisements[link]

1. Morrisons (2008)
2. Morrisons (Christmas 2008)
3. Morrisons (2009)
4. Morrisons (Christmas 2009)
5. Top Gear Turbo Challenge Trading Cards Test Set (2009)
6. Top Gear Turbo Challenge Trading Cards (2010)
7. Top Gear Interactive Challenge DVD (2007)
8. Top Gear Interactive Stunt Challenge DVD (2009)
9. Top Gear Uncovered DVD (2009)
10. Top Gear [Re-Runs On Dave] (2009)
11. Telecom XT network NZ (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Richard Hammond

• Official website
• Richard Hammond on Twitter
• Richard Hammond at the Internet Movie Database
• Donations to Yorkshire Air Ambulance double as a result of their life-saving rescue of Richard Hammond
• Richard Hammond on Top Gear
• Q&A – The Guardian – 2009-1-3. Hammond questions about himself. Retrieved 2009-6-29.

Richard Holbrooke
United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
In office January 22, 2009 – December 13, 2010
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	(post created)
Succeeded by	Marc Grossman
22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations
In office August 25, 1999 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Bill Richardson
Succeeded by	John D. Negroponte
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs
In office September 13, 1994 – February 21, 1996
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Stephen A. Oxman
Succeeded by	John C. Kornblum
United States Ambassador to Germany
In office October 19, 1993 – September 12, 1994
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Robert M. Kimmitt
Succeeded by	Charles E. Redman
15th Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
In office March 31, 1977 – January 13, 1981
President	Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Arthur W. Hummel, Jr.
Succeeded by	John H. Holdridge
Personal details
Born	Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (1941-04-24)April 24, 1941 New York City, New York
Died	December 13, 2010(2010-12-13) (aged 69) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Larrine Sullivan (m. 1964) Blythe Babyak (m. 1977) Kati Marton (m. 1995–2010, his death)
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	Brown University Princeton University

Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat, magazine editor, author, professor, Peace Corps official, and investment banker.

He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 to 1981 and Europe from 1994 to 1996).

From 1993 to 1994, he was U.S. Ambassador to Germany. Long well known in diplomatic and journalistic circles, Holbrooke achieved great public prominence when he, together with former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, brokered a peace agreement among the warring factions in Bosnia that led to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, in 1995. Holbrooke was a leading contender to succeed the retiring Warren Christopher as Secretary of State but was passed over as President Bill Clinton chose Madeleine Albright instead. From 1999 to 2001, Holbrooke served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

He was an adviser to the Presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry in 2004. Holbrooke then joined the Presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and became a top foreign policy adviser. Holbrooke was considered a likely candidate for Secretary of State had Kerry or Hillary Clinton been elected President. In January 2009, Holbrooke was appointed as a special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, working under President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a frustrating assignment which was said to have caused his health to deteriorate. He served until he died from complications of an aortic dissection on December 13, 2010.^[1]

Holbrooke's unfulfilled ambition was to become Secretary of State; he along with George Kennan and Chip Bohlen, were considered among the most influential U.S. diplomats who never achieved cabinet rank. Several considered Holbrooke's role in the Dayton Accords to merit the Nobel Peace Prize.^[2][3][4][5]

Early life[link]

Holbrooke was born on April 24, 1941, in New York City, to Dan Holbrooke and Trudi Kearl (née Moos); his brother, Andrew, survives him.^[6][7] Holbrooke's mother, whose Jewish family fled Hamburg in 1933 for Buenos Aires before coming to New York, took him to Quaker meetings on Sundays. His mother, a potter, has stated: “I was an atheist, his father was an atheist... We never thought of giving Richard a Jewish upbringing. The Quaker meetings seemed interesting.”^[8]

Holbrooke’s father, a doctor who died of cancer when Richard was 15 years old,^[6] was born of Polish Jewish parents in Warsaw and took the name Holbrooke after migrating to the United States in 1939. The original family name was Goldbrajch.^[9]

After Scarsdale High School,^[10] Holbrooke earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in 1962, attending on a full-tuition scholarship.^[10][11] He was later a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, leaving in 1970.^[11]

Career[link]

Vietnam (1962–1969)[link]

In 1962, Holbrooke graduated from Brown University, where he was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s call to service to enter government work.^[12][13] A few weeks after college graduation, Holbrooke entered the Foreign Service. A year later, after Vietnamese language training, he began six years of service in and on Vietnam. He served first in the Mekong Delta, as a civilian representative for the Agency for International Development working on the rural Pacification Program. This involved supporting the South Vietnam government with economic development and enacting local political reforms. Holbrooke then moved to the US Embassy, Saigon where he became a staff assistant to Ambassadors Maxwell Taylor and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.^[13] During this time, he served with many other young diplomats who would play a major role in American foreign policy in the decades ahead, including John Negroponte, Anthony Lake, Frank G. Wisner, Les Aspin and Peter Tarnoff. As the Vietnam War escalated, President Lyndon Johnson formed a team of Vietnam experts to work in the White House under the former head of the Phoenix Program, R.W. Komer, in an operation that was separate from the National Security Council. As a rising young diplomat with significant experience in the country, Holbrooke was asked to join the group when he was only twenty-four years old.

Following his time in the White House, Holbrooke served as a special assistant to Under Secretaries of State (then the number-two position in the State Department) Nicholas Katzenbach and Elliot Richardson. In 1968, Holbrooke was asked to be part of the American delegation to the 1968 Paris peace talks, which was led by former New York Governor Averell Harriman and Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance. He also drafted a volume of the now famous Pentagon Papers, a top-secret report on the government’s decision-making in Vietnam. Following these assignments, Holbrooke spent a year as a mid-career fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

[edit] Morocco and Foreign Policy (1970–1976)

In 1970, at his own request, Holbrooke was assigned to be the Peace Corps Director in Morocco. After two years, he left the Foreign Service to become the managing editor of the magazine Foreign Policy from 1972–1976.^[14] At the same time, from 1974–1975, he was a consultant to the President’s Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy and was a contributing editor to Newsweek International.^[14]

Carter Administration (1977–1981)[link]

In the summer of 1976, Holbrooke left Foreign Policy to serve as campaign coordinator for national security affairs to Governor Jimmy Carter (D-GA) in his bid for the White House. During the campaign, Holbrooke helped Carter prepare for his foreign policy debates with President Gerald Ford. After Carter's victory, Holbrooke followed in the footsteps of such diplomatic mentors as Philip Habib, Dean Rusk and Averell Harriman and, on March 31, 1977, became Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, making him the youngest person ever to hold that position, a post he held until 1981.^[15] While at State, he was a top adviser to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. During his service, he oversaw a warming with Cold War adversaries in the region, culminating in the normalization of relations with China in December 1978.^[13] He was also deeply involved in bringing hundreds of thousands of Indochinese refugees to the United States, thus beginning a lifelong involvement with the refugee issue.

East Timor controversy[link]

In August 1977, then Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke traveled to Indonesia to meet with President Suharto in the midst of one of the Indonesian military’s brutal counterinsurgency campaigns in East Timor, in which tens of thousands of East Timorese were being killed. According to Brad Simpson, director of the Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archives, Holbrooke had visited officially to press for human rights reform but, after meeting Suharto, had instead praised him for Indonesia’s human rights improvements, for the steps that Indonesia had taken to open East Timor to the West, and for allowing a delegation of congressmen to enter the territory under strict military guard, where they were greeted by staged celebrations welcoming the Indonesian armed forces.^[16]

Wall Street years (1981–1993)[link]

In January 1981, Holbrooke left government and became both senior advisor to Lehman Brothers^[6] and vice president of Public Strategies, a consulting firm he formed with James A. Johnson, a former top aide to Walter Mondale. From 1985 until 1993, Holbrooke served as managing director of Lehman Brothers. During this time, he co-authored Counsel to the President, The New York Times best-selling memoirs of legendary Democratic wise man and Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, published in 1991. He was a top policy adviser to then-Senator Al Gore (D-TN) during his 1988 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. And four years later he advised Bill Clinton, in his quest for the White House.

Holbrooke also remained deeply engaged in prominent foreign policy issues. He visited Bosnia twice in 1992 as a private citizen and a member of the board of Refugees International, witnessing firsthand the damage and devastating human costs of the conflict. This experience committed Holbrooke to pursuing a more aggressive policy in Balkans and, in a memo to his colleagues, he urged that "Bosnia will be the key test of American policy in Europe. We must therefore succeed in whatever we attempt."^[17]

U.S. Ambassador to Germany (1993–1994)[link]

In 1993, after Bill Clinton became President, Holbrooke was initially slated to be Ambassador to Japan due to his depth of knowledge and long experience in Asian affairs. However, this appointment eventually went to former Vice President Walter Mondale, and Holbrooke unexpectedly was appointed Ambassador to Germany.^[18] In 1992, Holbrooke was also a member of the Carnegie Commission on America and a Changing World and Chairman and principal author of the bipartisan Commission on Government and Renewal, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation and the Peterson Institute. He was Chairman and principal author of the “Memo to the President-Elect: Harnessing Process to Purpose,” a blue-ribbon Commission report sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Institute for International Economics.^[19]

Holbrooke served in Germany during a dramatic moment: only a few years after German reunification, he helped shape U.S. relations with a new Germany. A highlight of his tenure was President Bill Clinton’s visit to Berlin in July 1994, when thousands of Germans crammed the streets to welcome the American leader.^[20] While in Germany, Holbrooke also was a key figure in shaping the U.S. policy to promote NATO enlargement, as well as its approach to the war in Bosnia.

In 1994, while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Germany, he conceived the idea of a cultural exchange center between the people of Berlin and Americans. With Richard von Weizsäcker, former President of Germany, and Henry A. Kissinger as co-Chairman, this institution—The American Academy in Berlin—was announced on September 9, 1994, the day after the U.S. Army Berlin Brigade left Berlin. The American Academy in Berlin opened three years later in a villa on the Wannsee once owned by the German-Jewish banker Hans Arnhold. When Holbrooke left the U.S. government in 2001, he became Chairman of The American Academy in Berlin. It is now one of the most important links between Germany and the United States.^[21] Its Fellows have included writers (including Pulitzer Prize winning authors Arthur Miller and Jeffrey Eugenides), economists, government officials, and public policy experts such as Dennis Ross and former U.S. Ambassador to The Peoples Republic of China, J. Stapleton Roy.^[22] In 2008, The American Academy in Berlin awarded its annual Henry A. Kissinger Award for Transatlantic Relations to George H. W. Bush. In 2007, the Award's first recipient was former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (1994—1996)[link]

In 1994, Holbrooke returned to Washington to become the assistant secretary for European and Canadian Affairs, a position he held until 1996, when he resigned for personal reasons (he had recently married the author Kati Marton and wished to return to New York). While assistant secretary, Holbrooke led the effort to implement the policy to enlarge NATO and had the distinction of leading the negotiation team charged with resolving the Balkans crisis. In 1995, he was the chief architect of the Dayton Peace Accords. In 1996, he was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal, awarded by the German Ministry of Defense for public figures who have rendered "special meritorious service to peace and freedom in Europe."

Holbrooke and Carl Bildt before peace talks in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1995.

Balkan envoy (1996—1999)[link]

Upon leaving the State Department, Holbrooke was asked by President Clinton to become, as a private citizen, a special envoy to the Balkans given his distinguished service in the region. Holbrooke left his post as assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs and joined Credit Suisse First Boston, eventually taking the position of Vice Chairman. In 1997, Holbrooke became a special envoy to Cyprus and the Balkans on a pro-bono basis as a private citizen. During 1998 and 1999, in his capacity as special presidential envoy, Holbrooke worked to end the conflict between the armed forces of Serbia and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who were fighting for an independent Kosovo in the Kosovo War. In March 1999 he traveled to Belgrade to deliver the final ultimatum to Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević before the NATO attack began.^[23] Holbrooke has written numerous articles about his experiences in the Balkans, and in 1998, published the widely acclaimed book, To End a War, a memoir of his time as the chief negotiator of the Dayton Peace Accords, ending the Bosnian civil war. The New York Times ranked the book as one of the eleven best books of the year in 1998.^[24]

According to Radovan Karadžić and Muhamed Sacirbey, ex-Bosnian Foreign Minister, Holbrooke signed an agreement with Karadžić that if the latter withdrew from politics he would not be sent to the Hague tribunal.^[25] Holbrooke denied these terms, saying Karadžić's statement was "a flat-out lie."^[26]

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1999—2001)[link]

In August 1999, Holbrooke was sworn-in as the 22nd U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, replacing Bill Richardson. During his tenure, Holbrooke was known for innovation and for achieving diplomatic breakthroughs that settled a series of longstanding tensions in the United States' relationship with the UN. His highest-profile accomplishment was negotiating a historic deal between the United States and the UN's then 188-Member States to settle the bulk of arrears owed by the United States to the United Nations. The deal, achieved with the agreement of the UN's entire membership in late December 2000, lowered the rate of UN dues paid by the United States to the UN, fulfilling the terms of a US law championed by Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Joseph Biden (D-DE). In return for the reduction, the US paid the UN over $900 million in back dues.^[27] Holbrooke secured a reduction in US dues to the UN despite a booming American economy by enfolding the US position within a broad push to update the UN's long-outdated financial system. As negotiations reached a critical phase in the fall of 2000, Holbrooke bridged a gap between what the US was legally permitted to pay and the amounts the rest of the UN membership were willing to shoulder by securing an unprecedented contribution by billionaire Ted Turner, founder of the UN Foundation. Holbrooke and his team received a standing ovation in the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the terms of the deal were presented.

Holbrooke's other achievements as UN Ambassador included getting the United Nations Security Council to debate and pass a resolution on HIV/AIDS, the first time that body had treated public health as a matter of global security. In January 2000, Holbrooke used the United States' presidency of the UN Security Council to spotlight a series of crises in Africa, holding six consecutive UN debates that brought together leaders from the region and the across the globe, including former South African President Nelson Mandela and then U.S. Vice President Al Gore, to catalyze more effective UN interventions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and elsewhere. Holbrooke decried a "double standard" whereby African conflicts received insufficient global attention.^[28] In 2000, Holbrooke led a UN Security Council delegation in a series of diplomatic negotiations throughout Africa, including to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Uganda. Holbrooke also secured membership for Israel in the UN's Western European and Others regional group, ending Israel's historic exclusion from regional group deliberations and allowing it to, for the first time, stand for election to leadership positions in UN sub-bodies.^[29] During the final weeks of his term, Holbrooke secured consultative status at the United Nations for Hadassah, the Jewish women's service organization, overcoming strenuous objections from certain Arab delegations.^[30]

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria[link]

In January 2000, when the United States was in the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Holbrooke held an unprecedented meeting of the Security Council to discuss AIDS in Africa.^[31] No Security Council session in the history of the UN had ever been devoted to a health issue prior to this historic meeting. Vice President Al Gore presided over the Security Council and declared that AIDS was a security threat to all nations.^[32]

Upon leaving the UN a year later, Holbrooke took over a nearly moribund NGO that was intended to mobilize businesses and corporations in the fight against AIDS. At the time, it had 17 members. Over the next six years, Holbrooke turned this organization—originally called the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS—into a worldwide organization with over 225 members.^[33] It expanded to include malaria and tuberculosis and is now known as the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It is now the official focal point for mobilizing the business community in support of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and has grown into an important part of the ongoing war against these three diseases.^[34] The organization, now known as GBCHealth, continues to thrive with an expanded mandate in additional health focuses.

Special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (2009—2010)[link]

Holbrooke in Herat, Afghanistan, in August 2009 to be briefed by leaders of the coalition forces on the overall security of western Afghanistan.

In January 2009, Holbrooke was appointed by President Obama as special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[35] In that position, he helped kill an initiative to "back the creation of a new UN special envoy empowered to pursue peace talks with the Taliban."^[36] He also asserted that

"one of the most cost-effective steps Washington could take would be to boost the agriculture sector of Afghanistan, which in years past had been a productive and profitable source of exports. Replicate the past success, he said, and Afghans would have money and jobs—and that, in turn, would create stability in the country. He called for 'a complete rethink' of the drug problem in Afghanistan, suggesting that draconian eradication programs were bound to fail."^[37]

However, "Holbrooke's skill set did not lead to much accomplishment in Afghanistan. He never worked out a productive relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai . . . He butted heads with other administration officials and was dismissed by European colleagues. He brokered no breakthroughs."^[37]

Other activities[link]

Holbrooke was the vice chairman of Perseus LLC, a leading private equity firm. From February 2001 until July 2008, Holbrooke was a member of the Board of Directors of American International Group. During his time as a member of the board of directors of AIG, the firm engaged in wildly speculative credit default insurance schemes that may cost the taxpayer hundreds of billions to prevent AIG from bringing down the entire financial system. He was a member of the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and formerly served on the Advisory Board of the National Security Network. Holbrooke was also a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Citizens Committee for New York City, and the Economic Club of New York. He was a member of the Trilateral Commission, and he has been listed on their membership roster as one of their "Former Members in Public Service".^[38][39] He was the Founding Chairman of the American Academy in Berlin; President and CEO of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, the business alliance against HIV/AIDS, until his appointment as a special envoy by President Barack Obama;^[40] and Chairman of the Asia Society. Holbrooke's other board memberships included the American Museum of Natural History, Malaria No More (a New York-based nonprofit that was launched at the 2006 White House Summit with the goal of ending all deaths caused by malaria), Partnership for a Secure America, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Holbrooke was also an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum, as well as professor-at-large at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, his alma mater. Additionally, Holbrooke was an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.

Holbrooke also served as vice chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston, managing director of Lehman Brothers,^[41] managing editor of Foreign Policy, and director of the Peace Corps in Morocco.

He wrote numerous articles and two books: To End A War, and the co-author of Counsel to the President, and one volume of The Pentagon Papers. He received more than a dozen honorary degrees, including an LL.D. from Bates College in 1999. He wrote a monthly column for The Washington Post and Project Syndicate.

On March 20, 2007, he appeared on The Colbert Report to mediate in what Stephen Colbert (or rather, his television alter-ego) saw as Willie Nelson infringing on his ice cream flavor time. Holbrooke was the 'ambassador on call' and after a short mediation process the two parties agreed to taste each other's Ben and Jerry's ice cream to make amends. He subsequently sang "On the Road Again" in a trio with Colbert and Nelson.^[42]

Holbrooke was an Eminent Member of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation until his death.

In June 2008, Conde Nast Portfolio reported that Holbrooke and his son allegedly got multiple below-rate loans at Countrywide Financial because the corporation considered them "FOA's"—"Friends of Angelo" (Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo).^[43]