Update: Richard Hammond "Making Progress"

By Ray Wert September 22, 2006 9:04 am EST

We've spent the past few hours scanning the Brit press to bring you the latest news on Top Gear's beloved little "Hamster." We found a lot of speculation and rumors out there, but as the family's not releasing any specific details yet, we've precious little to tell you other than of course...speculation and rumors. So we'll toss out some of the best of that and see what sticks:

• The Beeb's saying Hammond's now out of intensive care and is making "satisfactory progress" — and a Leeds General Infirmary spokesman said: "This morning he has been moved from intensive care on to a high dependency unit. His condition has been downgraded from 'serious but stable' to 'stable'." [BBC News]
• Guardian Unlimited's provides some commentary from neurosurgeon John Firth, who serves on a panel of experts for the brain injury association Headway, said: "The basic rule is if the person talks again then what we are looking for is a good recovery." He also added the next 10 days are the most important in determination of long-term injuries. [Guardian Unlimited]

• Hammond's brother spoke to press yesterday, including the Daily Express, and he was also positive about the outlook. He said: "He's making a bit of good progress. Both his brothers are here and his wife. The doctors are very pleased." [Daily Express]
• Motortorque's reporting a bit of not-so-seriousness from Jeremy Clarkson:

His Top Gear co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May visited Richard in hospital yesterday, with reports claiming that Clarkson managed to raise a smile from his injured colleague, informing him that he only ended up in hospital because he was a "*** driver."

[motortorque]
• Motoring.co.za says police, along with folks from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), are examining the Vampire jet car responsible for Hammond's crash. [Motoring.co.za]
• The Mirror's got up a touching list of letters from around the world expressing people's concern over Hammond in the place of his weekly column for the "best newspaper on the web." [Mirror.co.uk]
• The Irish Examiner's claiming Hammond "was not attempting land speed record." [Irish Examiner]
• The folks over at PistonHeads have a donation page set up to contribute to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance — on site to help ferry Hammond to the hospital in Leeds. [JustGiving, PistonHeads]
• Keep checking back here at our mini-site we've set up for Hammond, or drop the RSS into your favorite feed reader.

Update: Richard Hammond "Making Progress"

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