who the hell knows at this point, I personally take everything Em says with a huge, huge pinch of salt.
the Clarkson fan are multi generational grifters. her grandmother, Shirley Clarkson, started making Paddington bear toys following the success of the book. Michael Bond released the first Paddington book in 1958. A few years later, the Clarkson’s were selling Paddington bear toys despite never having asked permission, nor having sought any sort of green light from Michael Bond - the actual owner to the copyright of Paddington.
luckily for them, Michael bond was pretty chill guy and they were able to win him around in an elevator pitch, after he began legal proceedings against him. I read it as two huge grifters winning round a fairly laid back and easy going guy. He ended up giving them the licence.
The clarksons since rewrote the story slightly and made it seem like they simply pitched the idea to him and he embraced it. That these were toys Shirley started creating in the 70s for Jeremy and his sibling. In reality, they’d started taking the piss but managed to win him over. As Michael Bond himself said - they pretended it was all a mistake.
so Jeremy’s working class parents were able to become wealthy from their con, and send Jeremy to Repton. A friend of mine’s father was good friends with Jeremy Clarkson at Repton. He was bullied there (which Jeremy himself has been fairly open about), possibly because he didn’t quite fit in, being from a working class home. He didn’t do well at school as a result and carried a big chip in his shoulder about it. My friend’s dad even attended Jeremy’s first wedding - but they grew apart when Jeremy started getting TV gigs and became really arrogant and obnoxious. His persona isn’t a persona allegedly - that’s the real him. Like his parents, he’s adept at controlling the narrative. He bought his farm as a tax break, which is gross and exploitive. But somehow managed to spin it as a TV programme which made it seem like it was a charitable endeavour to highlight the plight of farmers. I guarantee that if farmers weren’t having to compete with wealthy landowners (most of them have multigenerational leases and don’t own the land they work on), they’d probably be in a much better position. But somehow Clarkson spun it as doing soooooo much for the farming community. He did it to line his own pockets.
I see Em as simply the most recent generation in a series of people who absolutely love money and are willing to lie, cheat, steamroll and charm their way into getting it. She’s absolutely the last person IMO, anyone should be going to for advice or recommendations on anything.
