Jeremy Clarkson

Explore about the Famous TV Show Host Jeremy Clarkson, who was born in United Kingdom on April 11, 1960. Analyze Jeremy Clarkson’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Jeremy Clarkson dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Jeremy Clarkson?

Jeremy Clarkson Biography

Journalist, television personality, and broadcaster who co-hosted the BBC show Top Gear in 1988 and wrote weekly columns for The Sun and The Sunday Times.

His family owned a company that sold tea cosies and sent him to Repton School.

He has appeared as a guest on the Piers Morgan Show.

His second marriage was to his manager, Frances Cain, in 1993 up until their divorce in 2014. In 2017, he began dating Lisa Hogan. He has a son named Finlo and two daughters named Emily and Katya.

He poked fun at fellow Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond with his unfledged loyalty to Genesis.

Clarkson was born in Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Shirley Gabrielle Clarkson (1934–2014), a teacher, and Edward Grenville Clarkson (1932–1994), a travelling salesman. His parents, who ran a business selling tea cosies, put their son’s name down in advance for private schools, with no idea how they were going to pay the fees. However, shortly before his admission, when he was 13, his parents made two Paddington Bear stuffed toys for each of their children. These proved so popular that they started selling them through the business. Because they were manufacturing and selling the bears without regard to intellectual property rights, upon his becoming aware of the bears Michael Bond took action through his solicitors. Edward Clarkson travelled to London to meet Bond’s lawyer. By coincidence, he met Bond in the lift, and the two struck up an immediate rapport. Consequently, Bond awarded the Clarksons the licensing of the bear rights throughout the world, with the family eventually selling to Britain’s then leading toystore, Hamleys. The income from this success enabled the Clarksons to be able to pay the fees for Jeremy to attend Hill House School, Doncaster, and later Repton School.

Clarkson wanted to purchase the Ford GT after admiring its inspiration, the Ford GT40 race cars of the 1960s. Clarkson was able to secure a place on the shortlist for the few cars that would be imported to Britain to official customers, only through knowing Ford’s head of PR through a previous job. After waiting years and facing an increased price, he found many technical problems with the car. After “the most miserable month’s motoring possible,” he returned it to Ford for a full refund. After a short period, including asking Top Gear fans for advice over the Internet, he bought back his GT. He called it “the most unreliable car ever made”, because he was never able to complete a return journey with it. In 2006, Clarkson ordered a Gallardo Spyder and sold the Ford GT to make way for it. In August 2008, he sold the Gallardo because “idiots in Peugeots kept trying to race [him] in it”. In October, he announced that he had sold his Volvo XC90. In January 2009, in a review of the car printed in The Times, he wrote: “I’ve just bought my third Volvo XC90 in a row and the simple fact is this: it takes six children to school in the morning.”

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for co-presenting the motoring programmes Top Gear, from 2002 until 2015, and The Grand Tour alongside Richard Hammond and James May. He also currently writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun.

Clarkson has been accused of provoking the Argentines over the 1982 Falklands War by driving through the country in a Porsche with the numberplate H982 FKL.

In 1984, Clarkson formed the Motoring Press Agency (MPA), in which, with fellow motoring journalist Jonathan Gill, he conducted road tests for local newspapers and automotive magazines. This developed into articles for publications such as Performance Car. He has regularly written for Top Gear magazine since its launch in 1993.

In 1987, Clarkson wrote for Amstrad Computer User and made articles about Amstrad CPC game reviews.

Clarkson’s first major television role came as one of the presenters on the British motoring programme Top Gear, from 27 October 1988 to 3 February 2000, in the programme’s earlier format. Jon Bentley, a researcher at Top Gear, helped launch his television career. Bentley shortly afterwards became the show’s producer, and said about hiring Clarkson:

From a career as a local journalist in northern England, Clarkson rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of Top Gear in 1988. Since the mid-1990s, he has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows for BBC and appearing as a guest on other shows. As well as motoring, Clarkson has produced programmes and books on subjects such as history and engineering. In 1998, he hosted the first series of Robot Wars, and from 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own talk show, Clarkson.

Clarkson married Alex Hall in 1989, but she left him for one of his friends after six months.

In May 1993, he married his manager, Frances Cain, daughter of VC recipient Robert Henry Cain, in Fulham. The couple lived in Chipping Norton, in the Cotswolds, with their three children. Clarkson has been described as a member of the Chipping Norton set. Known for buying him car-related gifts, for Christmas 2007 Clarkson’s second wife bought him a Mercedes-Benz 600. She was reported to have filed divorce proceedings in April 2014.

After a Top Gear piece by Clarkson for its launch in 1995, described by The Independent as “not doing [GM] any favours”, Vauxhall complained to the BBC and announced, “We can take criticism but this piece was totally unbalanced.”

In October 1998, Hyundai complained to the BBC about what they described as “bigoted and racist” comments he made at the Birmingham Motor Show, where he was reported as saying that the people working on the Hyundai stand had “eaten a dog” and that the designer of the Hyundai XG had probably eaten a spaniel for his lunch. Clarkson also allegedly referred to those working on the BMW stand as “Nazis”, although BMW said they would not be complaining.

Clarkson presented the first series UK version of Robot Wars. His talk show, Clarkson, comprised 27 half-hour episodes aired in the United Kingdom between November 1998 and December 2000, and featured guest interviews with musicians, politicians and television personalities. Clarkson went on to present documentaries focused on non-motoring themes such as history and engineering, although the motoring shows and videos continued. Alongside his stand-alone shows, many mirror the format of his newspaper columns and books, combining his love of driving and motoring journalism, with the examination and expression of his other views on the world, such as in Jeremy Clarkson’s Motorworld, Jeremy Clarkson’s Car Years and Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours.

As a motoring journalist, he is frequently critical of government initiatives such as the London congestion charge or proposals on road charging. He is also frequently scornful of caravanners and cyclists. He has often singled out John Prescott the former Transport Minister, and Stephen Joseph the head of the public transport pressure group Transport 2000 for ridicule.

Clarkson often discusses high speed driving on public roads, criticising road safety campaigns involving cameras and speed bumps. In 2002, a Welsh Assembly Member Alun Pugh wrote to BBC director general Greg Dyke to complain about Clarkson’s comments that he believed encouraged people to use Welsh roads as a high speed test track. A BBC spokesman said that suggestions Clarkson had encouraged speeding were “nonsense”. Clarkson has also made similar comments about driving in Lincolnshire. In a November 2005 Times article, Clarkson wrote on 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 240 mph,” and “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.” In 2007, solicitor Nick Freeman represented Clarkson against a charge of driving at 86 mph in a 50 mph zone on the A40 road in London, defeating it on the basis that the driver of the car loaned to Clarkson from Alfa Romeo could not be ascertained. In 2008, Clarkson claimed in a talk at the Hay Festival to have been given a speeding ticket for driving at 186 mph on the A1203 Limehouse Link road in London.

Clarkson then also presented the show’s new format from 20 October 2002 to 8 March 2015. Along with co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond, he is credited with turning Top Gear into the most-watched TV show on BBC Two, rebroadcast to over 100 countries around the world. Clarkson’s company Bedder 6, which handled merchandise and international distribution for Top Gear, earned over £149m in revenue in 2012, prior to a restructuring that gave BBC Worldwide full control of the Top Gear rights.

In his book, I Know You Got Soul he describes many machines that he believes possess a soul. He cited the Concorde crash as his inspiration, feeling a sadness for the demise of the machine as well as the passengers. Clarkson was a passenger on the last BA Concorde flight on 24 October 2003. Paraphrasing Neil Armstrong he described the retirement of the fleet as “This is one small step for a man, but one huge leap backwards for mankind”.

Clarkson is passionate about engineering, especially pioneering work. In Inventions That Changed the World Clarkson showcased the invention of the gun, computer, jet engine, telephone and television. He has previously criticised the engineering feats of the 20th century as merely improvements on the truly innovative inventions of the Industrial Revolution. He cites the lack of any source of alternative power for cars, other than by “small explosions”. In Great Britons, as part of a public poll to find the greatest historical Briton, Clarkson was the chief supporter for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a prominent engineer during the Industrial Revolution credited with numerous innovations. Despite this, he also has a passion for many modern examples of engineering. In Speed and Extreme Machines, Clarkson rides and showcases numerous vehicles and machinery. Clarkson was awarded an honorary degree from Brunel University on 12 September 2003, partly because of his work in popularising engineering, and partly because of his advocacy of Brunel.

In 2003, Clarkson presented The Victoria Cross: For Valour looking at recipients of the Victoria Cross, in particular focusing on his father-in-law, Robert Henry Cain, who received a VC for actions during the Battle of Arnhem in World War II.

In March 2004, at the British Press Awards, he swore at Piers Morgan and punched him before being restrained by security; Morgan says it left him with a scar above his left eyebrow.

In 2004, the BBC apologised unreservedly and paid £250 in compensation to a Somerset parish council, after Clarkson damaged a 30-year-old horse-chestnut tree by driving into it to test the strength of a Toyota Hilux. In December 2006, the BBC complaints department upheld the complaint of four Top Gear viewers that Clarkson had used the phrase “ginger beer” (rhyming slang for “queer”) in a derogatory manner, when Clarkson picked up on and agreed with an audience member’s description of the Daihatsu Copen as being a bit “gay”. The Top Gear: Polar Special was criticised by the BBC Trust for glamorising drink driving in a scene showing Clarkson and James May in a vehicle, despite Clarkson saying to the camera, “And please do not write to us about drinking and driving, because I am not driving I am sailing” (as they were on top of international, frozen waters). They stated the scene “was not editorially justified” despite occurring outside the jurisdiction of any drink-driving laws.

Clarkson is in favour of personal freedom and against government regulation, stating that government should “build park benches and that is it. They should leave us alone.” He has a particular contempt for the Health and Safety Executive. He often criticised the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, especially what he calls the ‘ban’ culture, frequently fixating on the bans on smoking and 2004 ban on fox hunting. In April 2013, Clarkson was among 2,000 invited guests to the funeral of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

For an episode of the first series of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? broadcast in November 2004, Clarkson was invited to investigate his family history. It included the story of his great-great-great grandfather, John Kilner (1792–1857), who invented the Kilner jar, a container for preserved fruit.

Clarkson was involved in a protracted legal dispute about access to a “permissive path” across the grounds of his second home, a converted lighthouse, on the Isle of Man between 2005 and 2010, after reports that dogs had attacked and killed sheep on the property. Clarkson and his wife had claimed that four sheep were deliberately killed after being chased into the sea by a dog let off its lead. He lost the dispute after the Isle of Man government held a public inquiry, and he was told to re-open the footpath. The decision was affirmed by the Isle of Man High Court.

In a later incident during a Top Gear episode broadcast on 13 November 2005, Clarkson, while talking about a Mini design that might be “quintessentially German”, made a mock Nazi salute, and made references to the Hitler regime and the German invasion of Poland by suggesting the GPS “only goes to Poland”.

Clarkson has a keen interest in the British Armed Forces and several of his DVDs and television shows have featured a military theme, whether it be flying in military jets or several Clarkson focused Top Gear spots having a military theme such as Clarkson escaping a Challenger 2 tank in a Range Rover, a Lotus Exige evading missile lock from an Apache attack helicopter, a platoon of Irish Guardsmen shooting at a Porsche Boxster and Mercedes-Benz SLK, or using a Ford Fiesta as a Royal Marine landing craft. Clarkson visited British troops in Baghdad, in October 2005.

Clarkson has a keen interest in the British Armed Forces and several of his DVDs and television shows have featured a military theme, whether it be flying in military jets or several Clarkson focused Top Gear spots having a military theme such as Clarkson escaping a Challenger 2 tank in a Range Rover, a Lotus Exige evading missile lock from an Apache attack helicopter, a platoon of Irish Guardsmen shooting at a Porsche Boxster and Mercedes-Benz SLK, or using a Ford Fiesta as a Royal Marine landing craft. Clarkson visited British troops in Baghdad, in October 2005.

Clarkson has been described as a “skilful propagandist for the motoring lobby” by The Economist. With a forthright and sometimes deadpan delivery, Clarkson is said to thrive on the notoriety his public comments bring, and has risen to the level of the bête noire of the various groups who disagree with his views. On the Channel 4 organised viewer poll, for the 100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate programme, Clarkson polled in 66th place. By 2005, Clarkson was perceived by the press to have upset so many people and groups, The Independent put him on trial for various ‘crimes’, declaring him guilty on most counts.

In 2006, Clarkson received a BAFTA nomination for Best Entertainment Performance. Jonathan Ross won the award.

Clarkson is a fan of the progressive rock band Genesis and attended the band’s reunion concert at Twickenham Stadium in 2007. He also provided sleeve notes for the reissue of the album Selling England by the Pound as part of the Genesis 1970–1975 box set.

What's Jeremy Clarkson Net Worth 2024

Jeremy Clarkson Family