HE is not known for being a shrinking violet and to hear he has had an ‘angry clash’ doesn’t come as a huge shock, but the reason for Jeremy Clarkson’s latest melee is rather surprising - the seemingly sedate matter of a countryside farm shop.
A farm shop?
When one thinks of a farm shop, selling produce from a farm direct to the public, it’s easy to picture a quaint barn in rolling green fields and it all seems assured of being the least likely subject to spark controversy.
However?
The farm shop in question belongs to Jeremy Clarkson.
Ah, he’s no stranger to a stooshie is he…?
Indeed, former Top Gear host Mr Clarkson, 61, has had a few headline moments, including commenting on public sector workers striking during an appearance on The One Show in 2011, when he said: “I’d have them all shot. I would have them taken outside and executed them in front of their families.” More than 31,000 people complained and the BBC had to apologise.
And?
There are a fair few examples to choose from, but back in 2010 on Top Gear, when remarking on distractions while driving, he said: “Honestly, the burka doesn’t work. I was in a cab in Piccadilly the other day when a woman in a full burka crossing the road in front of me tripped over the pavement, went head over heels and up it came, red G-string and stockings.”
The most memorable?
Marked the end of his Top Gear tenure. In March 2015, he was suspended for allegedly punching a Top Gear producer. More than 1 million people signed a petition to get the BBC to bring him back, but it was then announced his contract would not be renewed.
Now?
Clarkson has been embroiled in an angry clash at a town hall meeting he called in Chadlington, Oxfordshire, over his plans to develop his Diddly Squat farm shop that has become a tourist sensation. Hundreds of fans from across the UK have queued for hours to get inside the shop since it appeared in his fly-on-the-wall series, Clarkson's Farm, on Amazon Prime this summer; desperate to try and meet the star and snap up his honey, chutney and T-shirts.
What’s the problem?
Residents are divided over the impact of the surge in tourists to the Cotswolds village, with some saying it has put the community on the map and boosted the local economy, while others disagree, saying it is overwhelming their home.
How did the meeting enfold?
The ‘cheese and wine’ meeting to discuss his plans to expand the farm became heated with one villager saying “The thing is Mr Clarkson, you are not a farmer. You are a media personality and farming to you is a sideline. But this is our village and we have to live with the consequences.” But another said: “He is doing a brilliant job.”
As for Clarkson?
The show goes on. The star, who said he called the meeting to explain “what we’re doing” at the farm, will appear in series two on Amazon Prime next year.
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