Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff: From England cricket captain to TV host

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Andrew Flintoff, also known as Freddie, gained fame as an all-rounder after securing a position in the global cricket scene before establishing himself as a TV presenter.

The ex-leader of the England cricket team quit playing in 2015. After that, he turned into a familiar face on the television and started hosting Top Gear in 2019.

Flintoff, who got hurt in December while filming a BBC car show, has agreed to a financial compensation deal worth an estimated £9 million with the broadcaster after the accident.

He was born in Preston on December 6th, 1977. He participated in several overseas cricket tours with England youth teams before making his first appearance for Lancashire in 1995.

He played his first international tournament for the senior team in Sharjah in 1999 and scored 50 runs. That same year, he made history as the first Lancashire player to score a century before lunch in a Roses match against Yorkshire at Old Trafford.

In 2005, he played a key role in securing the Ashes for England by participating in a tied match against Australia held at the Oval.

Flintoff was honored as the standout player of the series and was acknowledged alongside others as the ICC's top cricketer of the year. Later, he claimed the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

One year later, the Queen granted him an MBE award and he was also recognized as the leading man in the Test series played in India.

He had a surgical operation on his ankle and was selected as the captain of England for the Ashes trip to Australia.

During the year 2009, Flintoff finished his tenure as a player for the England cricket team successfully. He contributed to the team's victory over the Australian cricket team at the Oval, which marked the conclusive match of a 2-1 Ashes series victory.

After seeking advice from medical experts, he decided to retire from every kind of professional cricket. However, in 2014, he made a brief comeback to play Twenty20 for Lancashire.

Flintoff became well-known on TV, participating in shows that were both real and involved discussion. He also showed up as the representative of the supermarket brand Morrisons.

An individual started to lead a team during their participation in Sky's A League Of Their Own. This program was hosted by James Corden and it happened in 2010.

In 2012, a documentary called "Freddie Flintoff: Hidden Side of Sport" was shown on the BBC. It was produced by Freddie Flintoff himself. In the documentary, he talked with other sports professionals about how depression can seriously affect people who are involved in sports. He was also open about his own struggles with depression when he was the captain of the England team.

In the initial season of the Australian edition of I am A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, he received the title of the ruler of the wild.

Once more, Flintoff was commended for speaking candidly about his battles with mental health during the programme.

In 2017, he starred in BBC's Love, Lies And Records. Later, he performed in Kay Mellor's Fat Friends The Musical for his first musical theatre production. He also hosted the All Star Musicals show for ITV in December of the same year.

In October 2018, the announcement came out that he would be the fresh presenter to host Top Gear, along with Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, for the BBC program's 27th season.

During the month of February in the year 2019, Flintoff was a participant in a small car crash. He mistakenly collided with a market stall located in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire while recording an episode for the television show Top Gear.

During September of that year, he had another accident while driving a three-wheeled vehicle. The incident happened at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire where he was filming for Top Gear. Reports say that he was driving the vehicle at a speed of 124mph. Despite the high speed and the crash, he survived the incident without any injuries.

During his career as a cricketer, he suffered from an eating disorder called bulimia nervosa. He disclosed this in a documentary that was released in 2020. He shared that he had developed the disorder due to trying to match the physique of his athletic and lean teammates.

The program "Freddie Flintoff On Bulimia," where he talked to experts and men suffering from eating disorders, was praised for its ability to provide people with a deeper understanding of what it is like to be a man with this condition.

He was brought to the hospital following his accident in December 2022 while shooting footage at the Top Gear evaluation circuit located in Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

Flintoff made his first public appearance with injuries on his face in September.

At that moment, his child Corey indicated that he had been fortunate enough to survive and labeled it as a severe accident.

The occurrence of an accident disrupted the continuation of Series 34.

A representative from BBC Studios stated on Friday that they have made a deal with Freddie. They believe that it will help him recover, come back to work, and make future plans.

"We offered Freddie a genuine apology and will accompany him in his journey toward healing."