Jeremy Clarkson is an English broadcaster and writer who specialises in motoring. He writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun, but is better known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear. His opinionated but humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style has often generated much public... Read more
Jeremy Clarkson is an English broadcaster and writer who specialises in motoring. He writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun, but is better known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear.
His opinionated but humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style has often generated much public reaction to his viewpoints. His actions both privately and as a Top Gear presenter have also sometimes resulted in criticism from the media, politicians, pressure groups and the public.
Despite the criticism levelled against him, he has generated a significant following from the public at large, being credited as a major factor in the resurgence of Top Gear as one of the most popular shows on the BBC.
Born in Doncaster, Clarkson was educated at Repton School, although he claims to have been expelled. His first job was as a travelling salesman for his parents’ business selling Paddington Bear toys, after which he trained as a journalist with the Rotherham Advertiser.
In 2004 during an episode of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, Jeremy Clarkson was invited to investigate his family history; including the story of his great-great-great grandfather John Kilner (1792-1857), who invented the Kilner jar; a receptacle for preserved fruit.
In 2007 Clarkson won the National Television Awards’ Special Recognition Award.
Also in 2007, Clarkson and co-presenter James May were the first people to reach the magnetic North Pole in a car, chronicled in a Top Gear polar special. Clarkson more recently sustained minor injuries to his legs, back and hand in an intentional high-speed head-on collision with a brick wall while making the 12th series of Top Gear
In spite of his penchant for fast driving and high performance cars, Jeremy Clarkson has been reported as having a clean licence. Nonetheless, he is not reluctant to discuss driving fast: In a November 2005 article in The Sunday Times, Clarkson wrote, while discussing the Bugatti Veyron, “On a recent drive across Europe I desperately wanted to reach the top speed but I ran out of road when the needle hit 240mph”, and later, in the same article,”From the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. Because you simply wouldn’t believe me”