Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about making plans for the end of his life, revealing not only the song he wants played at his funeral but also the unusual items he intends to leave behind for the people closest to him.
The Clarkson’s Farm star, now 65, said he has been putting his affairs in order and thinking carefully about what should happen after he is gone. In typical Clarkson fashion, even a subject as serious as death was approached with a mix of blunt honesty, dark humour and a determination to do things entirely on his own terms.
Writing in his column for The Sunday Times, Clarkson explained that dealing with death in modern life is far more complicated than many people might imagine. He said that once he began considering everything properly, he realised there was far more to arrange than simply writing a will. According to Clarkson, every detail required thought, from who would inherit personal possessions to how he wanted to be remembered at his funeral.
Part of that process, he admitted, involved deciding what to leave to certain people so there could be no doubt that they had been considered. Clarkson joked that some individuals may need to be left something as small as 20 pence, just so they would not think they had been forgotten altogether. But when it came to his former motoring co-stars James May and Richard Hammond, Clarkson appeared far more interested in leaving behind gifts designed to tease them one last time.
He wrote that he had to think carefully about what James May should receive, but insisted it would need to be something May would find thoroughly irritating. Clarkson suggested that one of his cows might be the perfect choice, a gift that would be far more burden than blessing. As for Richard Hammond, Clarkson said he plans to leave him all of his trousers, another remark that underlined the playful dynamic that has defined their friendship for years on Top Gear and later The Grand Tour.
Clarkson did not stop at the will. He also revealed that he has already selected the music he wants played at his funeral. His choice, he said, is the full 23-minute version of Supper’s Ready by Genesis. It is a selection that feels fitting for a man who has rarely done anything by halves and who has long enjoyed defying convention.
He also joked about wanting to be buried somewhere deeply impractical. Clarkson said he would like his resting place to be in the Yukon, not because of any deep personal connection, but simply because it would be seriously inconvenient. It was another typically offbeat remark, combining mischief with a refusal to treat the subject in a conventional way.
Among the more outrageous details Clarkson mentioned was a condition involving a family heirloom. He said his son could inherit his father’s gold watch, but only if he agreed to keep it hidden away for five years, a deliberately absurd reference that added another layer of black comedy to his reflections.
Although Clarkson’s comments were delivered with humour, they come at a time when the presenter has spoken more openly about health, ageing and the realities of growing older. In recent months, there has been growing public interest in both his personal life and his professional future, especially as Clarkson’s Farm continues to be one of Amazon Prime Video’s most successful factual entertainment series.
His remarks also arrive amid fresh reports that Clarkson’s Farm will return for a sixth series. Clarkson completed work on the fifth run of the show last year, and that new series is widely expected to premiere in the spring. While an official broadcast date has not yet been confirmed, it is believed the next instalment could arrive in April or May.
There has also been increasing speculation about the future beyond series five. Clarkson had previously hinted that more filming could depend on whether snow arrived during the winter months, and reports have since suggested that Amazon executives have approved a sixth series. It has been claimed that production began again after colder weather arrived in January, adding to expectations that viewers will see even more from Diddly Squat Farm in the future.
For fans, Clarkson’s reflections on death may come as a surprise, but they are also entirely in keeping with the tone he has cultivated throughout his career. Even when discussing difficult subjects, he rarely abandons the sharp wit and irreverence that made him famous. By turning funeral plans, wills and inheritance into the basis for jokes about cows, trousers and inconvenient burial sites, Clarkson has once again shown an ability to make even the most serious matters sound unmistakably like a Jeremy Clarkson story.
