Richard Hammond on the accident that changed his life

Richard Hammond has told ITV Calender he "absolutely believed" he was going to die after he was involved in a car crash at 300mph.

The presenter, 45, was driving a jet-powered car at RAF Elvington in York in September 2006 when he careered off course and crashed.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance airlifted him within an hour - dubbed the vital time by medics to boost life saving chances - of the incident and flew him to Leeds General Infirmary.

The married dad-of-two says, says they "undoubtedly saved my life. I absolutely believed I was dying when it went off the runway, I thought I am out of here."

While Hammond can’t recall the impact or its aftermath, he says his wife Mindy was told several times to prepare for his death.

He says the accident changed him and is now filed away "under the major events of my life, along with passing 40, getting married, having my daughters."

The popular TV presenter, who grew up in Ripon, North Yorkshire, revealed that after the crash he had a memory span of just 60 seconds. And he touchingly told how every hour for upto two years following, he would tell himself how lucky he was to be alive, often as he watched his young daughters grow up.