Jeremy Clarkson’s journey into farming has been well documented in his hit series Clarkson’s Farm, which returns with a brand new season next month
Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about his early misconceptions of farming and why he believes it is so important to support farmers. The 66-year-old turned his attention to farming around seven years ago, a journey documented in his hit series Clarkson’s Farm, which returns for its fifth season next month.
Jeremy is supporting one of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent acts The Hawkstone Farmers Choir, who are set to perform on the show this weekend.
The group, made up entirely of farmers from all over the country, was originally formed during rehearsals for a series of commercials promoting Jeremy’s Hawkstone beer.
They have since gained popularity through the ITV talent show, where they earned Amanda Holden’s Golden Buzzer after their an emotional rendition of One Day Like This by Elbow.
Ahead of this weekend’s fifth semi-final, choir members Katrina and Ben appeared on Heart Radio Breakfast with Amanda and Jamie Theakston, before being surprised by Jeremy via video link.
Speaking to the former Top Gear star, Jamie said the choir had highlighted the “bigger cause” surrounding farming, adding: “A lot of farmers feel isolated and it’s important that we get behind them and support them right?”.
In response, Jeremy reflected on how challenging his move from television into farming had been.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said. “I thought farming, when I started seven years ago, you just drove around in a Range Rover, went to the pub occasionally, moaned about the weather and then in February, you went skiing.
“It’s unbelievably difficult and I’m lucky because I’ve often got a film crew here so there’s a lot of people but, when there isn’t a film crew here, you start to realise, ‘I’m all on my own’, literally all day, six in the morning until midnight, all day on my own.
“And then you think, ‘Oh god there’s no money coming in’, because there isn’t. And then you think, ‘Well what if you’re an actual proper farmer?’, like these guys are and all other people in the choir.
“You worry about money, you’ve got no one to talk to, you’re on your own, it’s not like most people who work in an office or a shop or a factory, these guys are on their own worrying all day long that the weather’s not right, that another subsidy has gone and they are being forced to grow bird food rather than human food.”
He continued: “It’s a very distressing industry at the moment, so it’s great that the choir has kept going because we only brought it together to do some silly adverts for the Hawkstone beer brand and then they all went, ‘Well this is great, we’ll just stay together’.
“As Katrina said, I think it’s fantastic and for it to happen on Britain’s Got Talent and you giving them the golden buzzer Amanda that was just brilliant.”
