Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he was left a “gibbering, sobbing, suicidal wreck” after being subjected to relentless bullying at boarding school.
The Clarkson’s Farm star attended Repton School in Derbyshire, where fees now cost around £9,000 a term.
He later left with a C and two Us at A-level before going on to find fame as the host of Top Gear.
Although Clarkson met his future friend and colleague Andy Wilman at the school, who later produced Top Gear and The Grand Tour, his time there was overshadowed by what he described as “many terrible things”.
Recalling the abuse, Clarkson said: “I was thrown on an hourly basis into the ice plunge pool, dragged from my bed in the middle of the night and beaten, made to lick the lavatories clean and all the usual humiliations that public school used back then to turn a small boy into a gibbering, sobbing, suicidal wreck.
“In the first two years the older boys broke pretty much everything I owned.
“They glued my records together, snapped my compass, ate my biscuits, defecated in my tuck box and they cut my trousers in half with a pair of garden shears.”
Clarkson achieved nine O-levels but was later expelled for drinking and smoking in local pubs before completing his studies.
Despite the severity of the bullying, the broadcaster has said the experience ultimately “brought me to my senses”.
Speaking on the Andy Jaye podcast, he said: “I appreciate that for many, many, many people bullying is horrific, but it just wasn’t for me particularly.
“I mean it was horrible to suffer from it, but I look back and I am grateful for what it made me become, if that makes sense.”
His comments Clarkson, 66, disclosed the cancer diagnosis, and the welcome news that it had been discovered early, in the most recent episodes of his reality show Clarkson’s Farm.
In a subsequent interview with The Sunday Times, Clarkson confirmed a PSA test two months ago revealed no indication of cancer and he is in remission.
In the week that Clarkson went public with his diagnosis, he prompted more than 50,000 men to check their own risk of the disease on charity Prostate Cancer UK’s online risk checker.
This marked a 640 per cent increase on the average week and was the highest weekly figure since February 2025, even higher than the week following former PM Lord Cameron’s diagnosis.
Charity website prostatecanceruk.org also saw a spike in traffic following his revelation, with 170,813 users in the subsequent week, a 74 per cent increase on the average week.
If you have been affected by this story, you can contact the Samaritans, call 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit https://www.samaritans.org/
