Jeremy Clarkson has previously described cyclists as “lunatics who are waging some kind of idiotic war with anyone normal,” but on tonight’s episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, he reveals that he’s recently lost two stone by riding a bike.
i News reports him as saying: “I went on a gap year. I went on a gap year to Indochina. They just have a better diet out there. Plus I had a bicycle rather than a car. Cycling is not a good thing to do. I’m all broken as a result of it, but I did lose a lot of weight.”
Explaining his motivation for cycling, he said: “Where I was staying was separated from the small town by a mountain, but it was much bigger than Everest. It was only three kilometres and I cycled it every day. I said, ‘I can’t have a drink unless I cycle into town.’ I wanted to get fit.”
The Grand Tour presenter’s anti-cycling comments are arguably just somewhat disingenuous attempts to maintain the Clarkson ‘brand’ and are perhaps not to be taken too seriously.
He has previously spoken effusively about the cycling-centric nature of Copenhagen and said that he would move there “in a heartbeat.”
He also turned up at his West London home on a bike in 2015, a day after being sacked by the BBC.
24 thoughts on “Jeremy Clarkson lost two stone by cycling”
But that doesn’t mean that we
But that doesn’t mean that we can all stop calling him a fat useless tub of lard
He really is the cliche of an
I haven’t been following the utterances of Mr Clarkson lately, not since he ceased being funded by our TV licence fees, but that collection of recent quotes is very revealing.
He really is the cliche of an overgrown public schoolboy, who denigrates outsiders at home, but can recognize better ways to live when he experiences them abroad. Of course, he’ll return to his old ways when back in Blighty, among his moronic mates, because belonging to a group is everything to people like him. He makes his living by using his moderate education to be a leading voice among those discontented that their conformity is being fully rewarded, but he’s no freethinker. Nothing he has ever said is outside the mainstream, just the mainstream of thirty years ago. The sad thing is that there are people who buy his act, and think he’s some kind of rebel. I ride in the Cotswolds regularly, where I understand he has his main home, but I’m never worried that I might be run off the road by Clarkson himself. But being given a punishment pass by a bogan who watches his TV programmes, or reads his Sun column, is a definite possibility. He’d like to think he’s the motoring world’s version of Stephen Fry, in terms of erudition and respect, but really his closest parallel is to Boris Johnson, who is the Clarkson of the political world.
But, hey, he’s lost some weight, good for him.
He’d like to think he’s the
That’s overly harsh on Boris, I think. In the political world I view Clarkson as more akin to Godfrey “bongo bongo land” Bloom.
portec wrote:
I’d say exactly the reverse – I think that’s overly harsh on Clarkson. At heart I’d say he is slightly less toxic than Johnson. He knows he’s putting on a performance to earn a living, I don’t think that peformance permeates quite as far into the depths of his interior as with BJ. With BJ it’s almost the opposite – he pretends to be just a performer, when in fact the soullessness goes all the way through.
Plus Clarkson hasn’t cost the taxpayer £43 million. And Johnson hasn’t been chased out of Alabama by angry rednecks.
I think I watched three full episodes of Top Gear and a lot of odd bits. There was the one where they turned a Reliant Robin into a space shuttle, the one where they sailed across the channel in a converted pick-up truck and the aforementioned one where they got chased out of Alabama by furious fellows in pickup trucks (like an inverse Alien Vs Predator – whoever loses, we win).
I saw various bits of other episides before deciding it was all a bit repetitive and the stunts probably mostly faked, and that the good bits (and those three bits were pretty good) didn’t really cancel out the boorishness.
handlebarcam wrote:
I think it was the other way round. Top Gear sold round the world and made money for the BBC.
I’d be surprised if the newer series of TG sell as well internationally.
For some ironic reason the
For some ironic reason the banner advert on my version of this page is the new range rover overfinch, my goodness, it is so ugly, it makes the Vielo R+1 look good.
I trust this was after the
I trust this was after the latest series of The Grand Tour as he’s got a fantastic beer belly going on there. If it grows much more he won’t be able to fit behind the wheel.
Well done on the weight loss
Well done on the weight loss but you are still a blowhard.
I trust this was after the
I trust this was after the latest series of The Grand Tour as he’s got a fantastic beer belly going on there. If it grows much more he won’t be able to fit behind the wheel.
I don’t mind Clarkson and
I don’t mind Clarkson and occasionally find him laugh out loud funny. They often used bicycles in Top Gear, either for a race (which they usually won) or for stunts; the “get a car” stuff isn’t to be taken seriously, although I’m aware that the Daily Mail end of their audience probably do.
Always worth reminding anyone who hasn’t seen it to search YouTube for Stewart Lee’s excellent Top Gear routine…
srchar wrote:
Yep, Stewart’s piece about Top Gear and Richard Hammond is brilliant.
Clarkson’s TV persona is created for entertainment (i.e. attracting attention and headlines and thereby increasing the ratings/book sales). I stopped watching TG many years ago but the race across London, where Hammond won on a bicycle, was very satisfying to watch.
Good luck to him – that’s
Good luck to him – that’s going to be a big fitness/health boost for him. I bet he did enjoy cycling really though.
A few years ago I recall he
A few years ago I recall he said something along the lines of how he would drive into a group of cyclists on the road if they were riding 2 abreast/holding him up. Along with the line “I mean it, I really do” and that was why the Conservative party wouldn’t have him on board.
I haven’t had any time for him since, and suggest you don’t either.
So now he’s a MACIL.
So now he’s a MACIL.
Came from Donny so would have
Came from Donny so would have cycled like most in the 60s/70s, his parents sent him to ‘posh’ school were he had a shocking time of it apparently. Deep down I don’t think he’s actually that bad but he;s more interested in upholding his ‘reputation’, started believing his own hype/bullshit long ago and thinking he’s important. Says what he likes pretty much, most of it to ‘shock’ but some of it I think because he’s still a Northerner and is just like that but given what he comes out with and knowing that that holds weight he should curb what he says but won’t because it’s not commercial to hold back.
He needed to lose the weight because he was on a one way ticket to a heart attack IMHO, FFS he’s only what, 58, he looks a lot lot older!
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
It may surprise you to learn that we’re not all like that “Up North”. The other take on it, could be that he has been more influenced by living in the South for so long.
He’s in large part
He’s in large part responsible for the ‘cyclists never stop at red lights’ libel. It’ll take more than a desultory ‘pro-cycling’ comment thrown our way.
But Jezza stands to benefit:
But Jezza stands to benefit:
And we stand to benefit from:
Hmmm, I can start to see Jezza’s point on this!
He lost two stone by changing
He lost two stone by changing his diet, and he happened to ride a bike while he was away – and you lot all fell for the clickbait
LRTom wrote:
Uh, you’re here too, so I guess you fell for it as well.
He could lose another stone
He could lose another stone if he got rid of that useless organ on top of his neck.
The average human head only weighs about 9lbs, but his is bigger than most.
burtthebike wrote:
…but how would he wear a helmet?
hawkinspeter wrote:
What exactly would the helmet be protecting?
Next on The Grand Tour –
Next on The Grand Tour – Clarkson compares the Bike Friday and the Brompton, Richard Hammond crashes a Quest Velomobile and James May rides a classic Masi in Italy.