One to make the Clarkson haters Christmas !!

[Matra et Alpine]

stolen from msn.co.uk If they complain it was Jeremy that did it
http://cars.msn.co.uk/carnews/ttclarksondec05/

Top 10: Greatest-ever Jeremy Clarkson momentsBy Henry Biggs,
last updated December 20, 2005
Motormouth Clarkson has landed himself in hot water again after performing a Nazi salute on BBC2’s Top Gear TV programme.
The presenter said the new Mini should be made into a quintessentially German car with the addition of trafficators that mimicked Nazi salutes, a sat-nav system that directed the driver to invade Poland and a fan belt that lasted 10,000 years. Love him or loathe him (and you can declare your vote on this matter at the bottom of the page), motormouth Jeremy is impossible to ignore. He has been blamed for all manner of things from the demise of MG-Rover, the sales failure of the Vauxhall Vectra, through to the slump in jeans sales in the 90s. But occasionally his caustic sense of humour and determination not to suffer fools means Jezza often finds himself at the centre of a storm of controversy. Here is our round up of the more outrageous Clarkson moments - don't forget to place your vote below.

Toyota pick-up
In February 2004 the BBC was forced to apologise to a Somerset parish council after Jeremy drove a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck into a tree in the car park of St John the Baptist church in Churchill. The council had thought the damage to the 30 year old horse chestnut was down to vandals until a local resident saw Jeremy footage of Jeremy demonstrating the car’s strength on Top Gear. The Beeb apologised and paid the parish council £250 compensation. Toyota pick-up

Hurricane Clarkson
Jeremy has even managed to whip up protests on the other side of the Atlantic with comments in his column in The Sun about America’s treatment of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He said that: "Most Americans barely have the brains to walk on their back legs," and went on to claim that starving black people in New Orleans were being shot by helicopter gunships rather than being rescued. A US Coast Guard helicopter in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Hyundai horror
Jeremy has always been outspoken and it’s been landing him in trouble for years. In 1998 the BBC had to step in when Hyundai UK claimed Jeremy made “bigoted and racist” comments at the Motor show in Birmingham. Jeremy allegedly told visitors to the Top Gear stand that the Korean company’s staff had been eating dog and that the designer of the then new XG had probably eaten a Spaniel. The BBC said that: "Jeremy’s colourful comments are always entertaining but they are his own comments and not those of the BBC. More often than not they are said with a twinkle in his eye."


Click here to display more Jeremy Clarkson photos from MSN Search Hyundai XG

Despicable dog walkers
Jeremy infuriated dog walkers in October 2005 after he banned them from using a footpath crossing his land on the Isle of Man, claiming that they had killed his sheep. The footpath was a ‘permissive’ one, meaning that walkers were allowed to use it with the owner’s permission. But Jeremy withdrew his consent blaming, "unpleasant and deeply militant dog walkers". He added: "You have these clots who just can’t see it. They just think they have a God given right to trample around on somebody else’s garden wherever they want and kill the sheep."
Clarkson with his wife Francie at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, June 2004

[Matra et Alpine]

Anti-Clarkson campaign
Poor old MG Rover has often been the butt of Jeremy’s jokes – he compared the 75 to a ‘Vicar’s elbow patch’ and a letter to the Daily Telegraph blamed Jeremy for Rover’s ills. Sacked MG-Rover employees were really incensed by his comments on the company’s ultimate demise: "when I heard the news my first though was: 'good'", prompting workers to hang a banner reading: "Anti-Clarkson Campaign", outside the defunct plant. Rover 75

We hate Jeremy Clarkson club
Residents of Norfolk started this campaign in response to comments made by Jeremy implying that people living in the area were backwards. Jeremy claimed that in the 'flat and featureless' county people point and say: "Hey, look, it’s a car!" whenever he drove past and that the government should tell people to avoid it unless they like: "orgies and the ritual slaying of farmyard animals." Comments about Lincolnshire also got Jeremy lambasted by road safety groups for saying he drives "fast and recklessly" through Lincolnshire because it is so boring.
Click here for our story on Clarkson & Lincolnshire People demonstrating against Oxford Brookes University granting Clarkson an honorary degree, September 2005

Discovery
Not content with ramming Toyota’s into trees, Jeremy upset conservationists by driving a new Land Rover Discovery up to the top of Ben Tongue mountain in Scotland. Dave Morris, director of the Scottish Ramblers Association said: "We found Clarkson’s stunt highly irresponsible. Driving to the top of a mountain over open ground is inevitably going to cause damage to the countryside. It is wrong of the BBC to promote such hare-brained and reckless behaviour." Land Rover Discovery 3

Custard pie
When Jeremy was set to be awarded an honorary degree by Oxford Brookes University, over 3,000 people signed a petition in protest, upset at Clarkson’s claims that he had a ‘disregard’ for the environment. At the ceremony itself in September one protestor took rather more direct action, flinging a custard pie into Jezza’s face. The man himself was unruffled, saying: "great shot" and posing for pictures. He also upset environmental group Greenpeace by saying he had 'wet dreams' about one of their ships sinking, prompting Ben Stewart of Greenpeace to brand him: "a class-A muppet and absolute plonker." Clarkson, shortly after his encounter with a custard pie

Mowing down cyclists
As a true petrolhead, Clarkson has a disdain for pedal power which attracted fury in the wake of the London bombings in July 2005. He warned all those setting off on two wheels for the first time: "Do not cruise through red lights. Because if I’m coming the other way, I will run you down, for fun and do not pull up at junctions in front of a line of traffic. Because if I’m behind you, I will set off at normal speed and you will be crushed under my wheels."
Cyclicts in London after the terrorists incidents of 21st July 2005

Punching Piers
With his famously scathing turn of phrase – he once said the Suzuki Wagon R should be avoided like "unprotected sex with an Ethiopian transvestite" – Jeremy has no need to resort to violence. In fact only one man has been on the end of a Clarkson fist, Piers Morgan who, as the then editor of the Daily Mirror, published apparently compromising pictures of Clarkson with a woman who wasn't his wife. Jeremy took such offence that at the 2004 British Press Awards he punched Morgan in the head several times; Morgan claims he still has a scar from a ring Jeremy was wearing. Morgan also claims that Clarkson deliberately spilt a glass of water on him during the last flight of the Concorde in October 2003.


Click here to display more Jeremy Clarkson photos from MSN Search Clarkson with Piers Morgan, then editor of the Daily Mirror, on board the last Concorde flight, October 2003
More Clarkson stories: Jeremy Clarkson in ‘Nazi’ jibe rowReview: New Jeremy Clarkson DVDJeremy Clarkson in new road safety rowJeremy Clarkson shot at in Iraq

[my porsche]

and went on to claim that starving black people in New Orleans were being shot by helicopter gunships rather than being rescued.

yeah because the gangsters were shooting at the helicopters that were trying to rescue them...JC doesnt live here, i dont think he should comment

im still a fan though

[Matra et Alpine]

SHEEEEET, M_P you still just don't get what his humour is about do you

Do you find "garlic munching surrendor monkeys" funny ??

[my porsche]

WTF is a garlic munching surrender monkey?

yeah i get what his humor is about but since alot of my family is from New Orleans its just a little closer to home

[Jack_Bauer]

WTF is a garlic munching surrender monkey?

Clarkson's polite way of describing French people.

[QuattroMan]

don't see why people hate Clarkson,he is one of the sweetest guy I have ever seen

[Matra et Alpine]

WTF is a garlic munching surrender monkey?

What he calls the French.
I usually find that msot folks who complain about somethign else he says because it's too personal or close for them never had a problem in the past with that one.

yeah i get what his humor is about but since alot of my family is from New Orleans its just a little closer to home

I recognise that, but getting his "humour" you realise that SOMEONE is always the butt of his jokes. So if we laugh at any of them we kind of have to accept it when it hits close to home.

It's the sad or funny ( depends on your view of a glass bing half full or empty ) that human nature makes jokes of our worst things. It's a coping mechanism.

[my porsche]

What he calls the French.
I usually find that msot folks who complain about somethign else he says because it's too personal or close for them never had a problem in the past with that one.

I recognise that, but getting his "humour" you realise that SOMEONE is always the butt of his jokes. So if we laugh at any of them we kind of have to accept it when it hits close to home.

It's the sad or funny ( depends on your view of a glass bing half full or empty ) that human nature makes jokes of our worst things. It's a coping mechanism.

hahahaha thats the best name for the french ive heard yet

[Matra et Alpine]

hahahaha thats the best name for the french ive heard yet

see ? Hence proving the point.......

Many French people died in the wars. Some may be parents/grandparents of folks reading UCP. So it kind of resets the mindset when you consider your views on him "taking a dig" at the efforts in NOLA, doesn't it Kind of reminds us to see the positive and funny rather than dwelling morosely on the negative.

[ScionDriver]

I think he is hilarious. He is one of the few people who says whats on his mind even if it does step on some peoples toes. I respect for that and because he is a great journalist.

[Spastik_Roach]

Hes hilarious, but one of these days hes gunna walk down an alleyway and somethings gunna happen...

[Matra et Alpine]

Hes hilarious, but one of these days hes gunna walk down an alleyway and somethings gunna happen...

It did already


However, he IS a big guy, you'd be a brave man to consider it

[dydzi]

i like him very much, one of very rare spiece of inteligent car journalists

top gear isn't a source of information for me, but i enjoy watching it as a tv show

[Clivey]

As Matra said, as long as you take it on the chin when it comes your way, it's fine to laugh at this sort of comment. The world is too full of politically correct bureaucrats as it is, we need to inject some humour and excitement into our lives at some stage.