{"id":252546,"date":"2025-11-09T05:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T05:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252546\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T05:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T05:53:08","slug":"top-gear-host-was-68","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252546\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Top Gear’ Host Was 68"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tQuentin Willson<\/a>, the British TV host known for Top Gear<\/a> and Britain\u2019s Worst Driver, has died. He was 68.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement from his family shared with multiple outlets, they announced that he died \u201cpeacefully surrounded by his family\u201d during a brief illness with lung cancer, calling him a \u201ctrue national treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cQuentin brought the joy of motoring, from combustion to electric, into our living rooms,\u201d the family said, adding: \u201cThe void he has left can never be filled. His knowledge was not just learned but lived; a library of experience now beyond our reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJeremy Clarkson and James May, Willson\u2019s former co-presenters during his time on the original Top Gear from 1991 to 2001, paid tribute to their late friend and colleague as they reacted to news of his death.<\/p>\n

\n\tClarkson, who helped develop the Top Gear revival in 2002, wrote Clarkson on X<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m far away so I\u2019ve only just heard that Quentin Willson has died. We had some laughs over the years. Properly funny man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cQuentin Willson gave me proper advice and encouragement during my earliest attempts at TV, back in the late 90s. I\u2019ve never forgotten it. Great bloke,\u201d May posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn July 23, 1957 in Leicester, England, Willson was a motoring journalist and former car dealer who joined Clarkson to co-host BBC\u2019s Top Gear in 1991. He went on to host his own classic car series The Car\u2019s the Star on BBC, as well as property show All the Right Moves.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Richard Hammond & James May Make \u201cSlightly Traumatizing\u201d Return To \u2018Top Gear\u2019 Studio<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing Top Gear\u2018s original cancellation, Willson joined Channel Five\u2019s rival show Fifth Gear as a presenter until 2005, going on to create Britain\u2019s Worst Driver for the network. In 2015, he hosted Channel Five\u2019s The Classic Car Show.<\/p>\n

\n\tWillson was also an outspoken advocate for consumer parity, and he campaigned for lower government fuel duty as a national spokesman for FairFuelUK. He resigned from the lobby group in 2021.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe is survived by wife Michaela and their three children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quentin Willson, the British TV host known for Top Gear and Britain\u2019s Worst Driver, has died. He was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,2285,105178,2920,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-252546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-obituary","11":"tag-quentin-willson","12":"tag-top-gear","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}