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| Birth Name(s) : Jeremy Clarkson |
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Actor |
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Full Jeremy Clarkson Biography
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) 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. The show won an International Emmy in 2005. He and James May were the first people to reach the magnetic North Pole in a car, which was aired in a Top Gear special on the 25 July 2007 on BBC Two.
Born in Doncaster to Shirley and Eddie Clarkson, Clarkson was educated at Repton, a fee-paying public school which he claims to have been expelled from. 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.
After the dismissal of Angus Deayton, Clarkson was one of a number of guest hosts recruited to present the topical panel show, Have I Got News for You. He was the first such host never to have previously been a guest of the programme. As of 13 April 2007, he has presented the show five times and been a guest once. Clarkson has also appeared as a guest on the BBC series QI 4 times, 'winning' twice. He also presented an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, notable for the absence of long time host Mark Lamarr, featuring guests Jim Jeffries, Trisha Goddard, Rick Wakeman, and Anthony Costa, on 13 August 2006.
Clarkson has presented a number of shows focused on history. For example, he presented a programme looking at Victoria Cross winners, in particular focusing on his father-in-law Robert Henry Cain who won the VC during Operation Market Garden at Arnhem in World War II. In 2007 he presented a programme about the St. Nazaire Raid (also called Operation Chariot), which took place in World War II. A subsequent programme showed how the graphics were created, the highlight being the construction and blowing up of a scale model of the HMS Campbeltown the ship that was used in the raid.
His known passion for single- or two-passenger high-velocity transport led to his brief acquisition of an English Electric Lightning F.1A jet fighter, which was installed in the front garden of his country home. The Lightning was subsequently removed on the orders of the local council, which "wouldn't believe my claim that it was a leaf blower", according to Clarkson on a Tiscali Motoring webchat. In fact, the whole affair was a setup for the programme Speed, and English Electric Lightning XM172 is now back serving as gate guardian at Booker airfield, High Wycombe.
Clarkson is well known for his posturing and deadpan delivery. This frequently includes fairly abrasive and deliberately provocative remarks that have repeatedly been a source of controversy. However, Clarkson has been known to appear to take resultant criticism with humour, e.g. responding to being pied with "Great shot!"
Clarkson is well known for his criticism of Vauxhall Motors. Clarkson has described Vauxhall's parent company General Motors as a "pensions and healthcare" company which sees the "car making side of the business as an expensive loss-making nuisance".
Throughout Top Gear, Clarkson has made anti-American remarks, often stereotyping Americans as fat and dull-witted. For example, in September 2005 Clarkson wrote an editorial for The Sun: "Most Americans barely have the brains to walk on their back legs". He has also said on Top Gear when comparing a rural British village with a rural American village that "In rural America, the town would be full of people doing… whatever it is they do. Incest, mostly". During the 'American Roadtrip' episode of Top Gear, he says, "If you're thinking of coming to America this is what it's like. You've got your Comfort Inn, you've got your Best Western, you've got your Red Lobster where you eat. Everybody's very fat, everybody's very stupid and everybody's very rude. It's not the holiday program it's the truth!" Later, when being chased by a gang of rednecks, he says "I honestly believe that in certain parts of America now, people have started to mate with vegetables."
From 2000 to 2006 Clarkson had a public feud with Piers Morgan which began when Morgan published pictures of Clarkson kissing his BBC producer, Elaine Bedel. On the final Concorde flight Clarkson threw a glass of water over Morgan during an argument.
During the 13 November 2005 Top Gear episode, a news segment featuring BMW's Mini Concept from the Tokyo Motor Show showcased what fellow-presenter Richard Hammond quoted as a "quintessentially British" integrated tea set. Clarkson responded by mocking that they should build a car that is "quintessentially German." He suggested indicators that displayed Hitler salutes, "a sat-nav that only goes to Poland" in reference to the Nazi invasion of Poland that marked the start of World War II in Europe, and "ein fanbelt that will last a thousand years," a reference to Adolf Hitler's propaganda slogan of "the thousand-year Reich". These statements drew negative attention in the British news media and from the German Government. |
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