One for Jeremy Clarkson

downfader

Because today he laid into cyclists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DggRRCqEiKw

It'll probably make him cry tonight

Gotte

What did the old toad say?

dondare

Please tell me what Clarkson said or if possible link to where he said it.

downfader

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... 684248.ece

I think it was the above... though having read his previous I'm pretty sure he was taking the pith.

dondare

Jeremy Clarkson is an invention like Alf Garnet, using hyperbole to ridicule those with untenable views. Unfortunately there are people, mostly Sun-readers, who actually agree with Messers. Garnet and Clarkson and fail to realize that the jokes on them.
Part of the confusion with Clarkson comes from the fact that the character and the performer both have the same name, unlike Alf Garnet who was played by Warren Mitchell.

downfader

dondare wrote:

Jeremy Clarkson is an invention like Alf Garnet, using hyperbole to ridicule those with untenable views. Unfortunately there are people, mostly Sun-readers, who actually agree with Messers. Garnet and Clarkson and fail to realize that the jokes on them.
Part of the confusion with Clarkson comes from the fact that the character and the performer both have the same name, unlike Alf Garnet who was played by Warren Mitchell.

I quite agree with that. Sadly he will often throw in the odd, real, fact and that seems to confuse them even more

st68

mr clarkson is a fat tw*t so who cares what he says

jimmythecuckoo

st68 wrote:

mr clarkson is a fat tw*t so who cares what he says

true, but most people of my parents generation think he is their spokesman. :?

neeb

The worst thing is, despite his obnoxious views and dangerous lies you have to admit he is quite funny.

boybiker

The trouble is that he is actually a clever bloke, he says things tongue in cheek and unfortunately stupid people take him seriously.
He would be a very good telly presenter if he stopped wittering on about cars all the time.

DavidBelcher

dondare wrote:

Part of the confusion with Clarkson comes from the fact that the character and the performer both have the same name, unlike Alf Garnet who was played by Warren Mitchell.

Just to add to the confusion, Garnett's views were scripted by Johnny Speight, whereas the views of Clarkson are scripted by, erm, Clarkson.
Easily impressionable Sun readers do seem to take his views as gospel and assume he's some sort of spokesman for all motorists, but then these are likely to be the same kind of Sun readers who vote for whichever political party Murdoch's rag tells them to.
As for Clarkson, he basically comes across as a middle-aged, middle-class pub bore who really ought to have kept his ropey opinions to himself rather than being given the run of the media to express them.
I've being fairly lenient so far, considering that my dislike of him is fairly well known, partly due to his attitude to cyclists and partly due to his jaundiced view of the part of the world I come from (the Midlands) - apparently the demise of the Rover works at Longbridge was due in part to the "Clarkson Effect";

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 15063.html

Also, for someone who claims not to give a stuff about the environment, he doesn't seem to have any qualms about recycling old Sunday Times columns to produce dire paperback books.

If you want to be entertained by someone who expresses the sort of views seen in his Sun column, watch Al Murray's Pub Landlord character instead - genuinely amusing and deliberately tongue-in-cheek, and dispensed by someone who doesn't appear to have some sort of bedraggled pan scourer nestling on top of their head in lieu of hair.

Righto, rant over....

David

robthehungrymonkey

Am I allowed to like cars, clarkson and cycling?

dondare

The demise of the Rover works at Longbridge was due entirely to the "Rover Effect".
I owned a Rover once, and it was crap.
They should have stuck to making bikes.

robthehungrymonkey

The collapse of Rover was Clarkson's fault?!

He gave bad reviews of bad cars, as did every other motoring journalist (he actually liked a lot of the MGs), it was a company never run well, that let down some talented engineers working for it. end of. People have to blame someone, and it appeared a TV presenter was their only option.

I think a lot of what he says about cyclists has a point. Taken to extremes, obviously. But that's the way to make a point these days. There are a lot of cyclists around that act like complete tw*ts a lot of the time. I hate all this car v's bike stuff.

People take clarkson too seriously, he's a funny guy... if you don't find him funny then fine.

downfader

DavidBelcher wrote:

If you want to be entertained by someone who expresses the sort of views seen in his Sun column, watch Al Murray's Pub Landlord character instead - genuinely amusing and deliberately tongue-in-cheek, and dispensed by someone who doesn't appear to have some sort of bedraggled pan scourer nestling on top of their head in lieu of hair.

Then you do realise that i work with peeps who go "That Al Murray, funny because its TRUE!" :shock: I call them "muppets" and laugh in their face.

chriskempton

Clarkson is indeed a charlatan. I have heard that he is, in fact, a keen bird watcher, a "twitcher" no less. Whilst cheerleading the excesses of the motoring industry, he inwardly weeps at his part in the destruction of habitats for the chough and yellowhammer. His sleeping hours are haunted by nightmarish visions echoing Hitchcock's "The Birds". I pity him for his slavish devotion to the spondoolick. Just imagine the hatred he must have for all those who hang on his every word....

RockyHopperShow

I can't disagree with the posts about Rovers. I had 2 from new and you didn't get the same value as with say, my Volkswagen. My current car is nearing 100,000 miles and I don't think the Rovers would have given half that mileage with as little fuss, and come so well equipped.
That said, the Rover's were only re-badged Austins anyway. Proper Rovers came from Solihull.

Redmog

My fun car has a rover engine in it, and after 75k miles it is very reliable, makes lovely rumbly v8 noises and goes like the clappers. I won't hear a word said against it!

Gotte

My father in law had a Rover 25 (or was it the other one), and I have to say, it was the most ghastly car I ever had to reverse onto our drive. That three minutes of hell behind the wheel left me aghast at how badly we can make things in this country given the right circumstances. I suspect even a Russian would have wept.

RockyHopperShow

Rover V8? Ex-Detroit if I recall correctly Good in a Triumph Stag ( showing my age now :oops: )

DavidBelcher

downfader wrote:

DavidBelcher wrote:

If you want to be entertained by someone who expresses the sort of views seen in his Sun column, watch Al Murray's Pub Landlord character instead - genuinely amusing and deliberately tongue-in-cheek, and dispensed by someone who doesn't appear to have some sort of bedraggled pan scourer nestling on top of their head in lieu of hair.

Then you do realise that i work with peeps who go "That Al Murray, funny because its TRUE!" :shock: I call them "muppets" and laugh in their face.

In the words of the man himself, they clearly "ain't thought it through, have they"? Said muppets obviously haven't twigged that it's supposed to be a parody.

David

DavidBelcher

Gotte wrote:

My father in law had a Rover 25 (or was it the other one), and I have to say, it was the most ghastly car I ever had to reverse onto our drive. That three minutes of hell behind the wheel left me aghast at how badly we can make things in this country given the right circumstances. I suspect even a Russian would have wept.

25s and 45s were just Honda models slightly re-badged - maybe they did a better assembly job at the Swindon plant, as the Honda versions seem to have been well received on the whole? That said, my Dad now has a 75 (as inevitably rubbished by Toss Gear when it first came on the market) and reckons for the first time in years he's actually enjoying driving again as it's the best car he's had by a long chalk; before that he had a Rover 214 which served him almost as well for nigh-on a decade (and was already 2nd hand when he bought it!). The 75 did, however, have a fair bit of BMW cash and resources chucked at it right from the development stage (though maybe not quite as much as the Mini), so I guess there was less chance or expectation of things turning out wrong.

David

Redmog

RockyHopperShow wrote:

Rover V8? Ex-Detroit if I recall correctly Good in a Triumph Stag ( showing my age now :oops: )

Better in a +8!

il_principe

robthehungrymonkey wrote:

Am I allowed to like cars, clarkson and cycling?

Why not, I do and I don't even own a car. I like Clarkson, the joke is on those who aren't intelligent enough to realise that he's winding them up.

RockyHopperShow

"I like Clarkson, the joke is on those who aren't intelligent enough to realise that he's winding them up."

+1

Littigator

DavidBelcher wrote:

Gotte wrote:

My father in law had a Rover 25 (or was it the other one), and I have to say, it was the most ghastly car I ever had to reverse onto our drive. That three minutes of hell behind the wheel left me aghast at how badly we can make things in this country given the right circumstances. I suspect even a Russian would have wept.

25s and 45s were just Honda models slightly re-badged - maybe they did a better assembly job at the Swindon plant, as the Honda versions seem to have been well received on the whole? That said, my Dad now has a 75 (as inevitably rubbished by Toss Gear when it first came on the market) and reckons for the first time in years he's actually enjoying driving again as it's the best car he's had by a long chalk; before that he had a Rover 214 which served him almost as well for nigh-on a decade (and was already 2nd hand when he bought it!). The 75 did, however, have a fair bit of BMW cash and resources chucked at it right from the development stage (though maybe not quite as much as the Mini), so I guess there was less chance or expectation of things turning out wrong.

David

Surely you have got to be kidding. Just because a car runs for more than 10 years it doesn't make it a good one. And besides a car that big with a 1.4 litre engine couldn't even go fast enough even to make flies stick to the windscreen, let alone wear out!

Rover's demise is well documented as being down to their poor design, bad workmanship and dreadful drivability (if that is a word?!)

Barry Roubaix

Funny sketch on 'Harry & Paul' last night about 'Clarkson Island'. Really ripped the piss out of him.

DavidBelcher

Barry Roubaix wrote:

Funny sketch on 'Harry & Paul' last night about 'Clarkson Island'. Really ripped the wee-wee out of him.

Damn. Wish I'd seen it, but have avoided the show so far as the first series of Harry & Paul seemed less than sparkling. Or maybe the days of Harry Enfield's early stuff (e.g. the Cholmondley-Warner sketches) and The Fast Show are just a hard act to follow and the new stuff is still good, but just not quite as good as these.

Oh, no, hang on....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMuO-8S_0Wg

Much obliged, YouTube

David

bornagainbiker

I caught the harry & paul show last night thought the clarkson bit was very inventive (and funny) think their best characters are the two 'old boy' doctors 40,45.....

Littigator

The 40-45 sketch had me in fits last night. I think the wife was concerned I was going to rupture something.

The rest can be a bit average though

downfader

They are both still great comedians. They are obviously different comedians to the ones they were when they were young, that doesnt mean they have lost the spark though imo. 8)