1982

1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (dominical letter C) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1982nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 982nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 82nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1980s decade.

Events

January

Top Gear

Top Gear and similar may refer to the following:

Television productions

Video games

Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for co-presenting the BBC TV show Top Gear with Richard Hammond and James May from October 2002 to March 2015. He also writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun.

From a career as a local journalist in northern England, Clarkson rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of Top Gear in 1988. Since the mid-1990s, he 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 provoked public reaction. 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. He has also garnered a significant public following, being credited as a major factor in the resurgence of Top Gear as one of the most popular shows on the BBC.

James May

James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is a British television presenter and journalist. He is widely known for his years as a co-presenter of the motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 to 2015. As of 2016 he was a director of the production company W. Chump & Sons and scheduled to be presenting an Untitled Amazon motoring show for Amazon Video as an exclusive for Amazon Prime customers, alongside his former Top Gear co-hosts.

May has presented other programmes on themes including science and technology, toys, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. He wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section from 2003 to 2011.

Early life

James May was born in Bristol, one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother. May attended Caerleon Endowed Junior School in Newport. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church. He was also at school with Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes star Dean Andrews.

Richard Hammond

Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is a British presenter, writer, and journalist. He co-hosted the motoring programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, from 2002 to 2015 and presented series 1–4 of Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky1. He also co-hosted Total Wipeout with Amanda Byram on BBC One. Hammond presented Planet Earth Live alongside Julia Bradbury. In 2016 he was scheduled to be presenting an Untitled Amazon motoring show to be produced by their company W. Chump & Sons alongside his former Top Gear co-hosts, as an exclusive distributed via Amazon Video to Amazon Prime customers.

Early life

Hammond was born in Solihull, West Midlands, and is the grandson of workers in the Birmingham car industry. 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. He attended Blossomfield Infant School in Shirley from the age of 3-7. Originally a pupil of Solihull School, a fee-paying boys' independent school, he moved to Ripon Grammar School, and from 1986 to 1988 attended Harrogate College of Art and Technology.