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 Clarkson has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows 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. From 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own chat show, Clarkson.
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, Clarkson has also 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.
Personal life
Clarkson was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire (West Riding at the time of his birth), to teacher Shirley Gabrielle Ward and travelling salesman Edward Grenville "Eddie" Clarkson; his parents ran a business selling tea cosies. They put the young Jeremy Clarkson's name down in advance for a number of private schools with no idea how they were going to pay the fees, until at the last moment, when he was 13, they made two Paddington Bear stuffed toys for each of their children. These proved so popular that they started selling them through the business with sufficient success to be able to pay the fees for Clarkson to attend Hill House School, Doncaster and later Repton School. By his own account, he was expelled from Repton School for "drinking, smoking and generally making a nuisance of himself."
Clarkson played the role of a public schoolboy, Taplin, in a BBC radio Children's Hour serial adaptation of Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings novels until his voice broke.[8]
Clarkson is twice-married. His first marriage was in September 1989 to Alexandra James (now Hall). This marriage was short-lived, and in May 1993 he married his manager, Frances Cain (daughter of VC recipient Robert Henry Cain) in Fulham. The couple currently live in the town of Chipping Norton, situated in the Cotswolds, with their three children. Known for buying him car-related gifts, for Christmas 2007 Clarkson's wife bought him a Mercedes-Benz 600.
Clarkson's fondness for wearing jeans has been blamed by some for the decline in sales of denim in the mid 1990s, particularly Levi's, because of their being associated with middle aged men, the so-called 'Jeremy Clarkson effect'. After fashion gurus Trinny and Susannah labelled Clarkson's dress sense as that of a market trader, he was persuaded to appear on their fashion makeover show What Not to Wear in order to avoid being considered for their all-time worst dressed winner award. Their attempts at restyling Clarkson were however all rebuffed, and Clarkson stated he would rather eat his own hair than appear on the show again.
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 is reportedly a big fan of the 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.
Clarkson has been involved in a protracted legal dispute about access to a "permissive path" across the grounds of his second home on the Isle of Man since 2005, after reports that dogs had attacked and killed sheep on the property. He eventually lost the dispute after the Isle of Man government started a public enquiry and was told to re-open the footpath in May 2010. The case is currently being brought before the High Court.
Clarkson is also an avid birdwatcher, his favourite bird apparently being the Peregrine Falcon.
His parents ran a business selling tea cosies from their home town of Doncaster. After branching out into selling Paddington Bear toys, they became more successful and this enabled Jeremy Clarkson to go to Repton public school. By his own admission, Clarkson was expelled from Repton for a mixture of bad behaviour; he then took a job in his parents business selling Paddington Bear toys. In 1984, he formed a motoring agency, Motoring Press Agency, with journalist Jonathan Gill. This involved doing road tests of cars; this later led to writing pieces for Performance Car. His journalistic talents later gained him contracts for the Sun and Sunday Times. With his acerbic wit and bold reviews, Clarkson rarely sits on the fence, but makes his view known very clearly.
“This is a Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Oh good, I’ve got syphilis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases!’” J.Clarkson
This makes for interesting journalism and TV, though car manufacturers who have been on the end of Clarkson's dismal reviews (such as Rover) have complained he can be unfair.
On 27th October 1988, Clarkson was invited to be one of the presenters for the British motoring programme Top Gear. Despite a break between 2000 and 2002, this has been one of the longest running motoring shows and with his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond, Top Gear has become one of the most watched TV shows on BBC Two.
The appeal of Top Gear has extended beyond motoring nuts, and the aim of the programme is as much about entertaining as information about the latest car models. Some have criticised this dumbing down of the programme; but the viewing figures show that many are enjoying the show, even though many of the comic moments are staged for the benefits of the show.
Jeremy Clarkson has become an icon for 'petrol heads' and non-political correctness. Sometimes his comments have landed him in hot water, such as disparaging comments about Norfolk, workers at Hyundai, global warming, speeding, cyclists and Wales. However, Clarkson claims he is not a serious commentator, but just tries to be funny.
"I don't have any influence over what people do, I really don't. It makes no difference what I say. Top Gear is just fluff. It's just entertainment - people don't listen to me."
However, others are not convinced that Clarkson's comments carry no weight as his views can be influential in shaping some people's opinions of cars and wider issues. After criticising the Malaysian, Perodua Kelisa, as the the 'worst car in the world' built in 'jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes', he was criticised in the Malaysian parliament.
But Clarkson tries to laugh off his comments. For example, when Clarkson caused upset by placing a 3D plastic map of Wales in a microwave, he defended himself by saying 'I Put Wales in there because Scotland wouldn't fit.'
In addition to career as a motoring journalist and presenter, Clarkson has presented documentaries on Science, military and Inventions that Changed the world. In the BBC programme - Great 100 Britons, Clarkson championed Isambard Kingdom Brunel and prominent engineer in the industrial revolution.
He has also been one of the most common presenters of the BBC satirical comedy - 'Have I Got News for You'
He has published several books such as
The World According to Clarkson
I Know You Got Soul - on machines, Clarkson feels have souls.
For Crying Out Loud!
Driven to Distraction
How Hard Can it Be?
Jeremy Clarkson book at Amazon.co.uk
His fame is such that a petition was launched to make Jeremy Clarkson the next Prime Minister. It attracted over 40,000 signatures.
No comments:
Post a Comment