Jeremy Clarkson was told he might have cancer two days before his ‘fracas’ with a BBC producer that resulted him in losing his presenting role on Top Gear.
Speaking in his weekly Sunday Times column, the 55-year-old presenter said: “Two days before the ‘fracas’, I’d been told, sternly, by my doctor that the lump on my tongue was probably cancer and that I must get it checked out immediately.
“But I couldn’t do that. We were in the middle of a Top Gear series. And Top Gear always came first.”
Clarkson also spoke about creating a Top Gear replacement. “The hole it’s left behind seems to stretch for eternity … you need to have a long term strategy. You need something that will fill the void. I have lost my baby but I shall create another. I don’t know who the other parent will be or what the baby will be like.
“Let’s stop being silly and pick up the pieces and start again … I just know I’m going to do another car show,” he added.
The article mentions the difficult time Clarkson was going through, including dealing with the recent loss of his mother, divorce from his wife and the loss of his baby, Top Gear.
“[Top Gear] was an all-consuming entity, a many-tentacled global monster that was dysfunctional and awkward and mad but I loved it with a passion. I loved it like my own child,” he wrote.
Talking on the day he got into a fight with Oisin Tymon, Clarkson said it was: “the most stressful day I had ever had in 27 years at the BBC. It was beyond-belief stressful, everything was going wrong, and then you know … there you go. But everybody has stressful days, and they manage to cope better than I did.”
It was originally reported Clarkson had punched Tymon because he was denied a hot steak. Police recently confirmed that no action would be taken over the incident.
Clarkson was scheduled to make a return to the BBC as a guest presenter on the satirical BBC show Have I Got News For You but later pulled out. He will now present it later in the year.
The BBC is said to be looking for a Clarkson replacement for the 2016 season of Top Gear. Co-stars James May and Richard Hammond may never return to the show, as the BBC is yet to renew their contracts.
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