Damon Hill - Personal and Early Life

Personal and Early Life

Hill was born in Hampstead, London on 17 September 1960 to Graham and Bette Hill. Graham Hill was a racing driver in the international Formula One series. He won the world drivers' championship in 1962 and 1968 and became a well known personality in the United Kingdom. Graham Hill's career provided a comfortable living. By 1975 the family lived in a "25-room country mansion" in Hertfordshire and Damon attended the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School. The death of his father in an aeroplane crash in 1975 left the 15-year-old Hill, his mother, and sisters Samantha and Brigitte in drastically reduced circumstances. Hill worked as a labourer and a motorcycle courier to support his further education.

Hill is married to Susan George ('Georgie' – born 29 April 1961) and they have four children: Oliver (born 4 March 1989), Joshua (born 9 January 1991), Tabitha (born 19 July 1995) and Rosie (born 1 February 1998). Oliver was born with Down's syndrome and Hill and Georgie are both patrons of the Down's Syndrome Association. In 2008, Damon also became the first patron of St. Joseph's Specialist School and College, a school for children with severe learning disabilities and autism in Cranleigh, Surrey. Joshua started racing in 2008, and as of 2011 is competing in the British Formula Renault Championship.

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