Grand Tour’s Richard Hammond remembers using LEGO to recover after Top Gear crash
Speaking on a podcast recently, TV presenter Richard Hammond discussed the role that LEGO played in his recovery from his 2006 crash and subsequent coma.
Back in 2006, while working on Top Gear alongside co-hosts James May and Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond had a near-fatal crash while driving a jet-powered dragster at speeds of up to 319mph. When it veered off the track and overturned, he suffered severe head injuries and was in a coma for two weeks.
Speaking now on a podcast he hosts with his daughter Izzy, titled Who We Are Now, Richard has opened up about how LEGO helped him regain his focus even while still lying in a hospital bed.
“I was sitting in bed, still pretty broken up and bad, but I could focus and lose myself in it,” he remembered. He went on to say that medical professionals at the time explained that any activity requiring spatial awareness, cognitive processing, and (to put it simply) having fun would only aid in his recovery.
Indeed, there have been various studies that show how building LEGO can help aid cognitive development. While some, like this one from Johns Hopkins, are centred around cognitive skills in children, it’s also been established that building with LEGO stimulates cognitive functions like problem-solving, spatial awareness, and memory in people of all ages.
Featured image: GoodFon, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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