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Jeremy Clarkson turns cycling advocate as he praises Copenhagen's approach

Bete noire of Britain's cyclists says Danes have got it right and created a city that's a delight to live in...

Jeremy Clarkson, the opinionated presenter of BBC motoring show Top Gear and bete noire of Britain’s cyclists, has said that he would live in Copenhagen “in a heartbeat” – and it’s all down to the city’s embrace of cycling as a means of getting around.

In an article that appeared in the InGear section of last weekend’s Sunday Times, Clarkson contrasts London, where despite Boris Johnson’s promised cycling revolution it’s fair to say the car remains king, with the approach adopted in the Danish capital which sees around one in three residents cycle to work or their place of study each day.

And it appears that Clarkson sees the Copenhagen model as the way forward to create cities that are better to live in.

"I suspect even the Danes are baffled about why they keep being picked out as a shining example of humanity at its best,” wrote Clarkson. “Just last week a newspaper in Copenhagen suggested it must be because, while cycling from place to place, visitors enjoy looking at all the pretty Danish girls’ bottoms.

"In fact, I’ve decided that the world’s five best cities are, in order: San Francisco, London, Damascus, Rome and Copenhagen. It’s fan-bleeding-tastic. And best of all: there are no bloody cars cluttering the place up. Almost everyone goes almost everywhere on a bicycle.

"Now I know that sounds like the ninth circle of hell, but that’s because you live in Britain, where cars and bikes share the road space,” he continues. “This cannot and does not work. It’s like putting a dog and a cat in a cage and expecting them to get along. They won’t, and as a result London is currently hosting an undeclared war. I am constantly irritated by cyclists and I’m sure they’re constantly irritated by me.

"City fathers have to choose. Cars or bicycles. And in Copenhagen they’ve gone for the bike.

"In Britain cycling is a political statement. You have a camera on your helmet so that motorists who carve you up can be pilloried on YouTube. You have shorts. You have a beard and an attitude. You wear a uniform. Cycling has become the outdoorsy wing of the NUM and CND.

"In Copenhagen it’s just a pleasant way of getting about. Nobody wears a helmet. Nobody wears high-visibility clothing. You just wear what you need to be wearing at your destination. For girls that appears to be very short skirts. And nobody rides their bike as if they’re in the Tour de France. This would make them sweaty and unattractive, so they travel just fast enough to maintain their balance.

"The upshot is a city that works. It’s pleasing to look at. It’s astonishingly quiet. It’s safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. I’d live there in a heartbeat."

Although it may be premature for Pickfords to get on the phone to ask Clarkson whether he’s fixed a date to move, his piece does give food for thought; if the petrolhead-in-chief can see the merits of prioritising the bike over the motor car in the urban environment, there’s a glimmer of hope for us all.

It is of course possible to take issue with some of the points Clarkson makes. London, for example, is a very different city to Copenhagen, or Amsterdam, say, with a much greater area which means longer commutes for many of those who live in the city compared to the ones their Danish or Dutch counterparts have.

Then there’s the question of infrastructure. Cycling in Copenhagen or Amsterdam is not undertaken exclusively on segregated cycle paths; cyclists can, and do, ride on the road, but they are not choked by motor traffic to the extent London’s are, and the needs of bike riders are front of mind for planners, not an afterthought, including issues such as the provision of cycle parking.

Clarkson appears blissfully unaware that some of the conflict between motorists and cyclists – who, it should be remembered, are not mutually exclusive groups, with most adult cyclists also owning cars – could in part be due to attitudes encouraged by his own TV programme and newspaper columns.

And as the trade website Bike Biz, in its own report on Clarkson’s comments in the Sunday Times, points out, he is now on Twitter, and it’s inevitable that at some point he will use that medium to have a pop at Britain’s cyclists.

But that shouldn’t detract from the underlying message of his latest piece – encouraging people to use bicycles and not cars to get around does make cities a more pleasant place to live, not to mention the health and environmental benefits it brings.

With cycling pushed up the political agenda as a result of The Times newspaper’s Cities fit for Cycling campaign, itself building on the work of existing advocates of cycling, the fact that someone of Clarkson’s stature recognises the benefits that the bicycle can bring is progress.

Copenhagen, it should be remembered, isn’t a city that always embraced the bicycle to the extent it does now. It took a conscious effort on the part of city planners in the 1970s and 1980s to change policy that favoured the motor car and lay the groundwork for the present-day city that Clarkson now praises.

It didn’t happen overnight there, and London and other British cities won’t be transformed solely on the basis of one newspaper article; but if Jeremy Clarkson can see the appeal of cities built around cycling – cities, that is, built around people – that in itself is progress.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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42 comments

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OldRidgeback | 11 years ago
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It's worth bearing in mind that London and Paris are the two largest cities in Europe, and by quite a long way. If you include all the burbs around both cities (and being realistic, you'd be silly not to), the total population in both is well over 10 million. Copenhagen is tiny by comparison with either. This is why there are so few cars, as pointed out by the ignoramus Clarkson. I've been to Copenhagen a few times but I go to Amsterdam rather more often, and Munich more often still. It is interesting how Munich is often overlooked as being a centre for cycling, which it is. Like Copenhagen or the Dam, it is relatively flat and is quite spread out, with lots of cycling routes all over the city. As with Amsterdam, Munich has a high percentage of cycling commuters and plenty of people pedal to the (S-Bahn) railway station and leave their bikes there or have an old clunker to pick up at the other end to pedal around the city - only the very centre has narrow streets that are less cycling friendly, but a lot of those are now closed to vehicles. Come to think of it, I've cycled a lot in Berlin as well and it's not too bad either.

Mind you, having been to Copenhagen Iknow the Danes aren't particularly known for being fat, ugly bigots, so I expect the locals wouldn't take to Clarkson any more than anyone with an IQ over 90 does in the UK either.

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joemmo | 11 years ago
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@ andrew streit - I think most people will have read the article but like me, been unimpressed that the small crumb of common sense was drowned out by the usual sneering drivel. The most odious thing about Clarkson is that he is no doubt intelligent and insightful but chooses to use those attributes selectively, depending on whether it serves his agenda (which is the promotion of himself mostly) or not.

That's enough of my spleen vented, I shall speak no more of him.

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Mr Will | 11 years ago
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It might surprise a few of you here, but a lot of car enthusiasts like bikes too. Both churches appeal to a similar mindset - freedom, self reliance, an appreciation of mechanics and engineering; all things you can get from a car or a bike (in the right circumstances).

Clarkson is not (despite his persona) an idiot. He might not have said it before, but what I think he realises is that cars are not the right tool for short distance inner city journeys. Nobody likes traffic jams but get the local traffic off the road and it frees up space for those who are using a car for whatever reason.

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oadatapa | 11 years ago
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Clarkson's typical polemical style: British cyclists have beards, Danish cyclists very short skirts.

Here some pictures of RECIBT (real, everyday cyclists in Britain Today): http://cycle.st/galleries/206/ - most of them wear whatever they want to wear at there destination.

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Simon_MacMichael | 11 years ago
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Except it isn't "real, everyday cyclist in Britain today" - it's cyclists in Cambridge, which is the nearest thing we have here to continental levels of cycling and bikes being used for a high proportion of everyday journeys.

The general point he's making about London vs Copenhagen (or Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Munich, Barcelona, to mention just a few) in terms of wearing hi-vis, helmets, cycling-specific clothes etc, is a valid one, however badly put.

You do notice someone in hi-viz in Paris, say, because they are very much the exception.

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Ciaran Patrick | 11 years ago
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If anyone remembers the Equinox episode 'the bicycle' from 1989, which delved into the appeal of the bicycle. Probably not ... anyway the point this episode made was that the bike in ideally suited to the narrow confinend street layout of London. It may be a bit hilly in places but it can be a very cycling friendly city but as usually it is the 0.0001% of the population that control the other 99.9999% who can't seem to see what is plainly needed right in front of there faces. It leaders that are the problem not Mr Clarkson and it is these leaders we should deal with.

Personally I quite like him. More often than not I don't agree with him but he does make some serious points, some times some whopping great howlers and more often than not he offends people but where would we be if we weren't allowed to state an opinion except that of the particular ruling bullies who happen to control the agenda at the time.

He has a point in what he says, maybe not put subtly enough for many. He does have a sledge hammer way of putting things. If we say that those we disagree with are mere bullies (although he speaks with no authority - he is just stating an opinion) why is that bullying.

I feel more bullied by people who say I should not listen to him because they don't like what he says. Now that is bulling - big time and much worse than anything Mr Clarkson puts out.

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pwake | 11 years ago
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Plenty of cyclists over here in San Fran  16 (another of Clarkson's faves) and it is a lot, lot, lot hillier than London.
Loads of trendies on fixies though. I think they're making a 'fashion statement' rather than a political one...

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WolfieSmith | 11 years ago
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I agree with all: praise Clarkson for entering the debate with some adult commentary for a change - abusing him just perpetuates the stalemate.

Two observations: London and Copenhagen are not the same and never could use the same solution. That Clarkson suggests if is symptomatic of his casual sound bite mentality. It's 4th ping of lager talk when world solutions suddenly become obvious.

The other observation is Clarkson's separation between those plucky Brits who want to cycle to work ( good on 'em) and those that want to cycle the roads for fun and fitness when they should be at spin class well away from proper road users.

There is growing pressure on road (and off road) cyclists in the UK. We are the bane of everyone wanting to push 70mph on country lanes - whether it be on the way to the paper shop or filming one of those tobacco filter IOM specials. Clarkson and his ilk are frustrated in both city and countryside. The difference between the 2 is the lack of cameras and witnesses in country roads.

In addition to the THINK BIKE signs you see in scenic routes now I would favour the bike signs you see in Mallorca whenever you approach a decent stretch of cycling road: signs that warn motorists that cyclists might be using the road as well.

As for Jeremy? He's a cynical media whore. Tthe way to beat him is to get him onside by boxing him into a corner. I still favour a media campaign to force the BBC into making him cycle LEJOG for Sport Relief in 2013. I'd donate £100 to see Jeremy get as far as Taunton in his jeans before he realises the point of Lycra.  4

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Pjrob | 11 years ago
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Good for you, Jeremy. What you've said will go a long way to helping fix up the problems that allowing cars to dominate the roads for so long has done. I love cars like anyone but the bike is a beautiful machine that needs its place. The Dutch, Danish and Swedes have had it figured out for years. Give bikes their own space and get drivers to respect them a bit. Then ordinary people in ordinary clothes get back onto them and the whole environment is better.

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Bikeylikey | 11 years ago
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Why do so many people give this bore-in-the-pub type any attention at all? Because he's a media luvvie who comes out with half-witted stereotypes and cliches which he 'dares' to say what lots of other half-wits are supposedly 'thinking' but daren't say in these politically correct times. If he thought about for more than his customary 0.0001 of a second, he'd know that all that about cycling being a political statement, beards etc. is total rubbish. He's just getting airtime with all this crap.

He might be hated by some, but he's also loved by a lot more, which makes me lose faith in the human race.

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t1mmyb | 11 years ago
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I think his observations on CPH are spot on.

However, he might wish to research the history a bit. CPH is the way it is now because 40 years ago cyclists got political and demanded safe cycling infrastructure. I expect if he'd driven there back then he'd have decried that generation of CPH cyclists as "the militant wing of the CND" or whatever choice demonisation he's spouting this week.

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skippy | 11 years ago
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Media darling that he thinks he is , clarkson could curry favour by doing a segment on his " show " demonstrating the correct way to drive whilst near Cyclists and other V unerable R oad U sers !
Should he decide to do this he could approach this subject from several points , since , Busses tend to speed up to pass Cyclists then turn into bus stops , taxis overtake then swing into pick up or deposit passengers , all manner of vehicles fail to complete an overtaking manoevre of a cyclist before turning left , Police and Ambulances pass Cyclists without signalling their intentions and so forth .
So many possibilities for him to address , BUT , does he have the ability ?
Suggestions of his riding " Lejog " or a free ticket to " Damascus " are more likely results , than him being able to convince the " selfish motorist " , that a change of their behaviour , will save them from a blanket 20MPH urban speed limit , whilst the Cycling Infrastructure , needed 30+ years ago , is being constructed !
Additionally he will need to bend the ears of those responsible for the " soft attitude " to those that injure or KILL " V R U " ! " Cyclinglawyer's " recent Blog highlights the inadequacy of the Judiciarys' efforts towards deterring the foolhardy who choose to " bully " Cyclists and thus cause injury or death !
Would hope " mercuryone " gets to donate that £100 , and enjoyed " creepymonkey's " points !

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