Richard Porter
Journalist
Richard started his career at an ancient 1990s version of Top Gear before leaving to do other things such as setting up the satirical car website sniffpetrol.com. He returned to Top Gear in 2002 as the writer and script editor of the re-invented show and later did the same job on The Grand Tour.
Richard has written over 25 books including And On That Bombshell about his time working on Top Gear and the critically ignored Boring Car Trivia series, but these days he’s mainly a TV script writer and editor for hire as well as a columnist for Evo, a writer for The Road Rat and The Sunday Times, and one half of the inexplicably successful Smith and Sniff podcast.
In his regular Ti column Geek Out!, Richard pushes subscribers’ appetite for arcane car trivia almost to breaking point.
First car:
Ford Ka. I found a second-hand one without power steering because John Simister in Car magazine said it was better like that
Professional hero:
Phil Llewellin in Car was the first person I read who put some wit into his work and made me realise writing about cars didn’t have to be completely dry. Also, Jeremy Clarkson for the same reason, but don’t tell him I said that
Fondest driving memory:
Lots of options in my failing mind but I keep coming back to collecting the non-PAS Ka mentioned above and driving it home thinking, yes, this is MINE
