Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson was born on 11 April 1960 in Sprotbrough, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. His father, Edward “Eddie” Clarkson, was a travelling salesman, and his mother, Shirley Gabrielle Ward, was a teacher with an entrepreneurial streak. The family’s early business selling tea cosies gave way to a lucrative venture making Paddington Bear stuffed toys — profits that funded Jeremy’s private school education.

Clarkson attended Hill House School in Doncaster before moving on to the prestigious Repton School in Derbyshire. He was eventually expelled from Repton for misbehaviour, drinking, and smoking — without receiving a leaving certificate. He subsequently trained as a journalist at the Rotherham Advertiser.

His television career began in 1988 when he joined the BBC’s motoring programme Top Gear, eventually becoming its most recognisable face. After a highly publicised incident with a BBC producer in 2015, he was dismissed from the corporation. He and co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May then moved to Amazon Prime with The Grand Tour (2016–2024). Since 2018, he has also hosted ITV’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and since 2021 has starred in Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime, documenting his attempts to run a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds.

Clarkson currently lives in Oxfordshire with his partner, Irish model and actress Lisa Hogan, whom he has been with since 2017. He has three adult children – Emily, Katya, and Finlo from his marriage to Frances Cain. His daughter Emily has built her own career as a writer and podcaster.