\n\t\t\t\t\tThe presenter shares the moments that shaped him, from studying music at university, to surviving a plane crash and failing at business\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
James May, 62, shot to fame presenting Top Gear on the BBC from 2003 to 2015, and The Grand Tour on Amazon from 2016 to 2024. Born in Bristol, he worked in the Civil Service before falling into journalism, and was famously fired from Autocar magazine for leaving a hidden message in the headlines. He\u2019s since presented shows on everything from sharks to the moon and his travels around Italy.<\/p>\n
Here he looks back on the moments that changed him, across his career, health and more.<\/p>\n
I had no vision or ambition as a young man. I was a very late developer, so largely unaware of the world, up until the age of about 35. I did some terrible jobs after I graduated. I worked in a car dealership, in a jewellery shop, as a records officer in the NHS<\/a>, and on the London Underground. I got fired<\/a> from most things. I was hopeless.<\/p>\n I had typical small-boy fantasies of being a fighter pilot or a rock star. I didn\u2019t want to be a footballer because I was rubbish at sports. I slightly resent that at school, you were made to feel it was important to be good at sport. Where we grew up in South Yorkshire, they were keen on kids playing musical instruments.<\/p>\n When I was 11, one of the teachers came in with a trumpet and a flute and said: Does anybody want to learn to play these? Some other kid got his hand up before me for the trumpet, so I said: I\u2019ll learn to play that flute. I started playing the piano and became musical. I studied music at university because I was good at it.<\/p>\n The closest I\u2019ve come to death is when I crashed my aeroplane. I tried to land in a gusting crosswind, and the next thing, the aeroplane was on its back. There could have been a fire, which would\u2019ve been the end of me.<\/p>\n It was years after I\u2019d started working on Top Gear that I was driving with a mate past an airfield and it had a sign saying: introductory flying lessons, 30 minutes for \u00a3120. He said: Let\u2019s stop and have one. Now I have my private pilot\u2019s licence.<\/p>\n I get embarrassed driving my Ferrari. I only drive it occasionally. I\u2019ve also got a boat and an aeroplane. I like taking it to the Isle of Wight for a picnic. The aeroplane I mostly fly to other people\u2019s airfields to see what their cafes are like.<\/p>\n I also collect art: mainly 20th Century, but also some Medieval, African, Asian Middle Eastern, and ancient Chinese. I just buy stuff I like, to hang on the wall. It\u2019s not an investment portfolio, but it\u2019s the last thing I\u2019d sell if things went tits up.<\/p>\n I notice I\u2019ve become flabby around my face and gut. I still expect to see someone looking reasonably youthful in the mirror. Occasionally, I\u2019ll see a photograph of myself on a YouTube video, and think: \u201cThat\u2019s quite an old man.\u201d<\/p>\n