Jeremy Clarkson
April 11, 1960 — Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who has spent decades dividing opinion — adored by millions as the boisterous voice of motoring enthusiasm, and condemned by just as many for his unapologetic provocations. Love him or loathe him, he became one of the most watched television hosts on the planet.
From Barnsley to Broadcasting
Born on April 11, 1960 in Doncaster, Clarkson was raised in Barnsley by entrepreneurial parents who sold Paddington Bear toys. A disruptive student at the Repton School, he left with only two O-levels. After a brief stint working in a local newspaper sales office — and a spell selling his parents' merchandise at trade shows — he fell into motoring journalism, writing for regional newspapers and Motoring News.
Top Gear and Global Fame
Clarkson joined the BBC's Top Gear as a presenter in 1988, but it was after the programme's 2002 relaunch that he transformed it into a global phenomenon. Alongside co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May, he turned a modest car review show into one of the BBC's most successful international exports — at its peak, Top Gear was watched by over 350 million people in 170 countries. The trio's chemistry, staged disasters, and gleefully absurd challenges — racing planes, crossing polar regions, building amphibious cars — became TV folklore.
After a much-publicised altercation with a producer led to his BBC contract not being renewed in 2015, Clarkson reunited with Hammond and May for The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, which ran until 2024 and broke streaming records.
Did You Know?
Clarkson came very close to never making it onto television at all. In the early 1990s, a BBC executive reportedly described him as "too scruffy, too opinionated, and too northern" to be a presenter. The same executive's negative assessment was later cited by Clarkson himself as the motivation to prove critics wrong.
Farmer, Columnist, and Continued Controversy
Clarkson reinvented himself yet again with Clarkson's Farm, an Amazon Prime documentary following his attempts to run a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds. Critics who expected broad comedy were surprised to find genuine warmth, and the show has proven hugely popular. Throughout it all, he has maintained a twice-weekly column in The Sunday Times and The Sun and continued to host ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Whatever the medium, Clarkson has never struggled to attract an audience — or a controversy.