Rock legend Brian May has extended an unexpected helping hand to Jeremy Clarkson after a wave of troubles struck the television presenter’s Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire.
The farm, once known as Curdle Hill Farm, was purchased by Clarkson back in 2008 and has since become the beating heart of Clarkson’s Farm, the hit Prime Video documentary series now spanning four seasons. The show follows Clarkson’s often comical yet determined efforts to run the 1,000-acre property, aided—and sometimes chastised—by local farming expert Kaleb Cooper.
However, behind the on-screen charm, recent weeks have brought real-life difficulties. Earlier this month, Clarkson revealed that Bovine Tuberculosis had struck the farm’s cattle. The 65-year-old shared the grim news on social media, writing:
“Bad news from Diddly Squat. We’ve gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated.”
He later clarified:
“I should clear this up, really. It’s Bovine TB that we have. It doesn’t affect people, just our poor cows.”
The outbreak poses a serious threat to livestock and is a notorious problem for UK farmers, often linked to transmission from infected wildlife such as badgers. For Clarkson’s herd, it means strict movement restrictions, testing, and potentially devastating losses.
And the bad luck hasn’t stopped there. Just a week later, Clarkson sounded another alarm—this time about the year’s crops. Unusually poor growing conditions and other setbacks have left him fearing an agricultural disaster.
“It looks like this year’s harvest will be catastrophic,” he warned. “That should be a worry for anyone who eats food. If a disaster on this scale had befallen any other industry, there would be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
In the wake of these back-to-back blows, a surprising figure from Clarkson’s past has stepped forward with an offer of help—Brian May, the legendary guitarist of Queen. The pair have famously clashed in the past over the issue of badger culling, with Clarkson previously supporting it as a measure to combat Bovine TB and May passionately opposing it through his animal welfare activism.
Yet, according to the Daily Express, May’s animal charity—the Save Me Trust—has reached out regardless. Co-founded in 2009 by May and conservationist Anne Brummer, the organisation campaigns for wildlife protection and welfare across Britain. When contacted, the charity confirmed that Brummer had been in touch with Clarkson directly to offer support during the crisis.
The gesture marks a rare moment of solidarity between two public figures who have been on opposite sides of a heated rural debate for more than a decade. Whether their renewed contact will lead to active collaboration—or even a reconciliation—remains to be seen, but for now, Clarkson has at least one unexpected ally as he battles one of the toughest farming seasons of his career.
