Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he narrowly escaped losing his leg in an accident on his farm.
The presenter stars in Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime, which sees him grow crops and look after livestock on land he owns in the Cotswolds.
Speaking on this week’s Jonathan Ross show, he revealed that there are “more accidents in farming than all the other industries put together”.
Explaining his own experience, the 61-year-old said: “I got this thing called a telehandler, it’s like a JCB thing. I thought ‘I’ll just use its front to push the post in.’
“It got halfway into the ground and the fence was leaning on it and it flicked back. How it didn’t take my leg off… I didn’t walk properly for a week. This was a quarter of a tonne of fence post.”
The Grand Tour presenter bought the farm in 2008 when it was run by a local villager, but when he retired in 2019 the TV star decided to see if he could run it himself.
Speaking about how his documentary series came about, Jeremy said: “It was an accident. I was contractually obliged – I had to make a programme on my own. I thought ‘I’m slightly bored of Terminal 5. I’ll film at home on the farm.’
“I thought what a lovely programme it would be to try and learn to be a farmer. I genuinely love it out there.”
Talking about the show’s standout star, Kaleb Cooper, Jeremy added: “He’s entrepreneurial, that’s how I’d describe him.
“The [farm] shop is a huge success and consequently we’ve had to mow a field near it so people can park there and it’s really a mud bath. Kaleb now goes up and charges people £15 to tow their cars out.”
Also in the episode, music legend Sting shared details about his and his wife Trudie’s encounter with a ghost in their home.
Sting said: “My wife and I saw a ghost one night. I didn’t really believe in them but I woke up and I saw a woman and a child standing in the corner of the room.
“I thought ‘Why is Trudie standing there with our baby?’ And then I reached over and there she was. She woke up and saw exactly the same thing.”
The Jonathan Ross show airs on Saturday night at 10.05pm and on ITV and the ITV Hub.