Jeremy Clarkson has described the moment he was told by doctors that he may have cancer. The former Top Gear presenter, who has since been given the all clear, said that hearing about the scare was one of the most "stressful" experiences of his life.
His meeting with the doctors came just a couple of days before Jeremy, 55, was involved in a disagreement with BBC producer Oisin Tymon, which led to his sacking.
"Two days before the 'fracas', I had been told, sternly, by my doctor that the lump on my tongue was probably cancer and that I must get it checked out immediately," wrote Jeremy in his column for The Sunday Times.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJeremy Clarkson said that "Top Gear always came first" before a medical checkup
"But I couldn't do that," he added. "We were in the middle of a Top Gear series. And Top Gear always came first."
Jeremy, who was dropped by the broadcasting corporation last month, continued: "That was the most stressful day I have ever had in 27 years at the BBC. It was beyond-belief stressful, everything was going wrong, and then you know... there you go. But everyone has stressful days, and they manage to cope better than I had."
Given his extensive knowledge and experience in motoring, Jeremy is expected to continue his television career with another car show. He has featured on Top Gear since 1988, and was largely given credit for the series' popularity.
© Photo: Getty Images"It was beyond-belief stressful," wrote Jeremy Clarkson of his cancer scare
Describing his obsession with the BBC Two show, particularly after his mother passed away and his marriage broke down, the star wrote: "It was an all-consuming entity, a many-tentacled global monster that was dysfunctional and awkward and mad but I loved it with a passion. I loved it like my own child."
"I felt sick because after I'd lost my home and my mother, I'd thrown myself even more vigorously into my job and now, idiotically, I'd managed to lose that too," he wrote.
At the end of March, the BBC's director-general Tony Hall announced that Jeremy's contract would not be renewed after his "unprovoked physical attack" towards Oisin. The row was said to have occurred because no hot food was provided after a day's filming.
