Jeremy Clarkson

Main PhotoPrimeHistoric Photograph of Jeremy Clarkson as of May 2019. Jeremy Clarkson in the 2000s, at the height of his career. Jeremy Clarkson in the 1990s, during his initial rise to fame.
Full Name	Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson
Nationality	Great Britain
Birthday	11th April
Sex	Male
Occupation	Presenter of Top Gear (1977 TV series)
On-screen debut	Top Gear: Series 20, Episode 6 (1988)
Final appearance	Carnage Á Trois (2021)

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson, also known as "Jezza" and "The Orangutan" among various other nicknames was a British motoring journalist who became the longest serving host of Top Gear in its entirety, presenting approximately 200 episodes apiece for both the original format of the show from 1988 - 1998, and for the first iteration of the show's relaunch from 2002 - 2015. During this time he wrote weekly columns for various news outlets, in addition to working for the show's accompanying magazine from 1993 - 1999, and again from 2001 - 2015. During his second, more widely-regarded tenure on Top Gear, he helped to transform the show into a global juggernaut with a cumulative global audience of 350 million people tuning in worldwide. Clarkson appeared in the first twenty-two series of the current format of the show until he was dismissed by the BBC on the 25th of March, 2015.

Career

Jeremy Clarkson's career began in the 1980s, writing for Performance Car Magazine. His writing talents would soon be noticed by producer Jon Bentley, who met with Clarkson at the British unveiling of the Citroen AX in 1986, later inviting him to participate in a screen test for Top Gear, bringing along a Range Rover. He would debut on the installment dated the 27th October, 1988, replacing the roles of Frank Page and Sue Baker. He soon become notorious, developing a reputation due to his abrasive character and would be selected as the show's main host following the departure of series stalwart William Woollard in 1991. Under his lead, Top Gear became edgier throughout the 1990s, featuring more action-oriented content with higher-powered cars that the show had previously strayed away from. He spent much of his first decade on the show embroiled in controversy, a tradition he'd continue once he resumed work on Top Gear from 2002.

Clarkson would quit Top Gear in January 1999, being replaced by James May, and instead focused on hosting a selection of miniseries following the success of his Motorworld programme in the mid-1990s. One of these was the Clarkson talk show, which he hosted from 1998 - 2000 and helped to flesh out Clarkson's personality after a decade working with cars. He would meet up with lifelong friend Andy Wilman in late 2001 to discuss a new car show, which at the time was called Carmageddon and eventually morphed into the relaunched Top Gear, premiering in October 2002. The show quickly became a worldwide hit under his lead, not least thanks to the work of Alex Mills and his website FinalGear, with Clarkson paying tribute to Mills following his death from leukaemia in February 2019.