Really worrying news about Jeremy Clarkson over the weekend as the Top Gear, Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm legend revealed that he recently underwent emergency heart surgery, including the insertion of a stent, after being suddenly taken ill after returning home from holiday.
Clarkson explained in his column for The Sunday Times how he suddenly felt clammy, with a tightness in his chest and pins and needles in his arms:
“I certainly wasn’t having a heart attack. But if it hadn’t looked that way, I never would have been sent to hospital.”
He added that a few days before, while on holiday in the Indian Ocean, he had had to “take a moment to make sure my limbs were working properly” when he stood up, “struggled” with swimming, and could not descend a flight of stairs “without holding someone’s hand.”
“These problems all manifested themselves in one day, which made the rest of my holiday extremely relaxing because all I did was sit in a chair drinking wine and eating cheese.”
“Back at home, though, the sudden deterioration began to gather pace. I woke on Wednesday morning not feeling too good. I was clammy and there was a tightness in my chest.”
64-year-old Clarkson was taken by ambulance to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where a heart attack was ruled out after he underwent checks. He then had fitted a stent – a tube inserted into a blocked artery to open it and allow blood to flow.
“The next morning I went home, and here I am, two hours later, writing this and sort of thinking, ‘Crikey, that was close.’”
Yikes. That does sound scary. I know a heart attack was ruled out, but anytime you get clammy and your arm goes numb and chest goes tight, you’ve got to take that as a warning that one is on the horizon. I mean, just look at the shape of the guy’s stomach in the featured image of this article. That definitely is not a 64-year-old who looks after himself. Although, he does say that he quit drinking and smoking after his GP urged him to ‘quit immediately’ years ago, so that’s something.
I know Clarkson is a controversial and polarising figure who a lot of people hate, but he’s also a British icon and his farming show has done a lot to highlight issues that UK farmers are struggling with. Let’s wish the man a speedy recovery so he can at least keep doing that. Look after yourself, Jeremy!
