‘Crikey, that was close’: Jeremy Clarkson shares worrying health update

Popular television presenter Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about a recent health scare that saw him rushed to hospital following a “sudden deterioration” in his well-being.

In his column for The Sunday Times, the former Top Gear host revealed how he had begun to experience symptoms of “tightness” in his chest and “pin and needles” in his arm.

Clarkson’s worrying symptoms began while on holiday where he began to struggle after going for a swim and eventually needed assistance to climb a flight of stairs.

“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,” he explained.

“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.”

As his symptoms worsened Clarkson was rushed to hospital where, following a number of tests, a heart attack was ruled out. However, doctors did discover a blockage in one of his arteries leading to his heart and ordered a stent to be fitted.

“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 said.

“It seems that of the arteries feeding my heart with nourishing blood, one was completely blocked and the second of three was heading that way.

“The next morning I went home, and here I am, two hours later, writing this and sort of thinking, ‘Crikey, that was close’.”

It’s not the first time Clarkson has shared a health scare that saw him rushed to hospital.

In 2021, Clarkson revealed in grisly detail how he sliced off half his thumb and was taken to hospital following a horror kitchen mishap.

Clarkson recalled all the gruesome details in his column for The Sunday Times, with the incident occurring while he was making chilli chips “with much vigour” and ended up slicing off half his thumb on a mandolin slicer.

“I turned and plunged the wound into a stream of icy spring water, which was a mistake because bone is normally surrounded by warm blood and flesh. It’s unused to coming into contact with anything cold and responds by sending a message to the mouth suggesting it says ‘f***” a lot’,” he said.

Clarkson went on to describe in his trademark vivid language the severity of the injury following the incident.

“It was like a miniature pork chop, about 2cm long, 1cm wide and 3mm thick. And, yes, it was half my thumb,” he said.

Despite her best intentions, Clarkson’s partner attempted to reattach the severed digit at the time.

“So that’s what she did, plonking it back in the hole on my thumb. And that would have been fine, save for the fact that moments earlier she’d been mixing some dried Carolina reaper chillies into a blend of salt and garlic,” he said.

“Now, you may know that a chilli that scores a record 2.2 million on the Scoville scale can cause a fair bit of irritation when taken orally, but this is nothing compared with what it does when it’s applied to an open wound, along with a dash of salt for extra agony. You may have heard the scream from where you were.”