Vauxhall

Coordinates: 51°29′25″N 0°07′09″W / 51.4903°N 0.1193°W / 51.4903; -0.1193

Vauxhall (/ˈvɒks.ɔːl/) is a mixed commercial and residential district of central London in the London Borough of Lambeth. Vauxhall formed part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created.

It has also given its name to the Vauxhall Parliamentary Constituency, which extends to include all of Stockwell and parts of Brixton and Clapham all to the south, and to the Vauxhall Motors car manufacturer, which originated in the area, and possibly also to the Russian word for a large railway station (see below).

Its economy was for more than a century until the late 20th century predominantly manual workers' homes and business premises such as works for the local railway, a former water supply works heavily contrasting with the mixed and frequently higher professional occupations of neighbouring districts, particularly Kennington and Westminster. Similar to neighbouring Battersea a riverside redevelopment conversion into residential property, three acres of parkland and an iconic government building have re-characterized its architecture and altered its economy to resemble adjoining districts, retaining affordable and social housing particularly south-west of its station close to the South Western Main Line on land which was once heavy industrial and overcrowded terraces. Since 1998, the categorical part of Vauxhall closest to its railway station has in planning policy been designated part of the Lambeth Borough's north borough town centre housing many types of office, leisure and retail buildings.

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors (/ˈvɒksɔːl/; registered name General Motors UK Limited) is an English automotive manufacturing and distribution company headquartered in Luton, and an affiliated company of the German Adam Opel AG, both being wholly owned subsidiaries of General Motors (GM) in the United States. The company sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles under the Vauxhall marque; in the past it has also sold buses and trucks under the Bedford brand. Vauxhall has been the second-largest-selling car brand in the UK for more than two decades.

Vauxhall was founded by Alexander Wilson in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer and began manufacturing cars in 1903. It was acquired by GM in 1925.Bedford Vehicles was established as a subsidiary of Vauxhall in 1930 to manufacture commercial vehicles. Having previously been a luxury car brand, after the Second World War Vauxhall became increasingly mass-market. Since 1980, Vauxhall products have been largely identical to those of Opel, GM's German subsidiary, and most models are principally engineered in Rüsselsheim, Germany. During the 1980s the Vauxhall brand was withdrawn from sale in all countries apart from the UK, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. At various times during its history, Vauxhall has been active in motorsports, including rallying and the British Touring Car Championship.

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.

General Motors

General Motors Company, commonly known as GM, is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, that designs, manufactures, markets and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts and sells financial services. General Motors produces vehicles in 37 countries under thirteen brands: Alpheon, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, HSV, Opel, Vauxhall, Wuling, Baojun, Jie Fang, UzDaewoo. General Motors holds a 20% stake in IMM, and a 77% stake in GM Korea. It also has a number of joint-ventures, including Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling and FAW-GM in China, GM-AvtoVAZ in Russia, Ghandhara Industries in Pakistan, GM Uzbekistan, General Motors India, General Motors Egypt, and Isuzu Truck South Africa. General Motors employs 212,000 people and does business in more than 120 countries. General Motors is divided into five business segments: GM North America (GMNA), Opel Group, GM International Operations (GMIO), GM South America (GMSA), and GM Financial. As part of its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring the current company, General Motors Company LLC, ("new GM"), was formed in 2009, after the bankruptcy of the General Motors Corporation ("old GM"). The new company purchased the majority of the assets of "old GM", including the name "General Motors".