Clarkson Says His Arteries Are 'Stiff' but His Car Mind Is Sharp

Jeremy Clarkson has never been one to let a medical emergency slow his pen — and his latest Sunday Times motoring column is proof of that. The 66-year-old television presenter has issued a characteristically candid health update while reviewing the Bentley Continental GT S, reassuring readers that, whatever his body may be doing, his judgement on cars remains fully intact.

It is the kind of line only Clarkson could write — self-deprecating, slightly alarming, and oddly reassuring all at once. The Clarkson's Farm star has been remarkably open about his health in recent months, and his latest column adds a new chapter to what has become quite a medical saga for one of Britain's most recognisable broadcasters.

Clarkson underwent an emergency heart procedure in October 2024 after experiencing a sudden decline in his health. Doctors discovered a blocked artery supplying blood to his heart, and he had a stent fitted during treatment — a small mesh tube inserted into an artery to help restore blood flow. The procedure featured in the latest series of Clarkson's Farm, which follows his efforts to run Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds.

That was not the only health battle to make it on screen. Clarkson also revealed during the series that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The disease was caught at what he described as a "really early" stage, and in June he confirmed he was in remission after treatment, with a post-treatment test showing no indication of cancer remaining.

Despite all of that, Clarkson has spoken publicly about changing his lifestyle since the heart scare — and his latest column suggests he is approaching his recovery with the same wry defiance that has defined his public persona for decades.

For fans of his motoring writing, the column will come as a relief. Clarkson concluded with trademark confidence that he had, as he put it, "still got it" — his ability to assess a car undiminished by stiff arteries or the various other complaints he cheerfully listed alongside them.

Away from the wheel, life at Diddly Squat has been anything but straightforward. In a recent newspaper column, Clarkson revealed he works between 15 and 20 hours a day on the farm during summer — rising at 4am to harvest — and yet, as he put it, does not "actually get paid" for what he produces. He calculated that after a full week of harvesting wheat and barley, it would have been cheaper to go on an expensive holiday instead.

He has also become one of the more vocal figures in British farming and rural affairs, having challenged government planning reforms, campaigned against proposed inheritance tax increases on agricultural assets, and — in a somewhat unexpected detour — visited a floating dairy farm in Rotterdam last year, returning to declare that Britain should build similar operations in the docks of London, Liverpool and Manchester. That Dutch farm has since been put up for sale after running into regulatory difficulties, though Clarkson's enthusiasm for the concept remains on record.

For now, though, the message from Clarkson is simple: the body may have taken a few knocks, but he is not done yet.