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James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter, alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, of the motoring programme Top Gear from 2003 until 2015 and the television series The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime Video from 2016 to 2024. He also served as a director of the production company W. Chump & Sons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

May has presented other programmes on themes including travel, science & technology, toys, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. He wrote a weekly column for The Daily TelegraphTemplate:'s motoring section from 2003 to 2011.

Early lifeEdit

James Daniel May was born in Bristol, the son of aluminium factory manager James May and his wife Kathleen. He was one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> May attended Caerleon Endowed School in Newport, Wales. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

May studied music at Pendle College, Lancaster University, where he learned to play the flute and piano; he also spent a year studying metalwork at a technical college.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Crampton">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After graduating, May briefly worked at a hospital in Chelsea as a records officer and had a short stint in the civil service before taking up journalism and broadcasting in his thirties.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also held a part-time job as a moulder at the foundry his father was employed at and suggested in a 2017 interview with The Times that this formed his interest in mechanics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Journalism careerEdit

During the early 1980s, May worked as a sub-editor for The Engineer and later Autocar magazine, from which he was dismissed for performing a prank.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He has since written for several publications, including the regular column England Made Me in Car Magazine, articles for Top Gear magazine, and a weekly column in The Daily Telegraph.

He has written the book May on Motors (2006), which is a collection of his published articles, and co-authored Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure (2006), based on the TV series of the same name. He wrote the afterword to Long Lane with Turnings, published in September 2006, the final book by motoring writer L. J. K. Setright. In the same month, he co-presented a tribute to Raymond Baxter. Notes From The Hard Shoulder and James May's 20th Century, a book to accompany the television series of the same name, were published in 2007.

Dismissal from AutocarEdit

File:JamesMayAutocar.jpg
James May's hidden message

In an interview with Richard Allinson on BBC Radio 2,<ref>BBC Radio 2, broadcast 6 January 2006</ref> May confessed that in 1992 he was dismissed from Autocar magazine after putting together an acrostic in one issue. At the end of the year, the magazine's "Road Test Yearbook" supplement was published. Each spread featured four reviews and each review started with a large red letter (known in typography as an initial or a drop cap). May's role was to put the entire supplement together.

To alleviate the tedium, May wrote each review such that the initials on the first four spreads read "ROAD", "TEST", "YEAR" and "BOOK". Subsequent spreads seemingly had random letters, starting with "SOYO" and "UTHI"; when punctuated, these letters spelt out the message: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse."<ref name="theage">Template:Cite news</ref>

In a 2019 interview with Carscoops.com, May stated that while the hidden message originally passed through the magazine's pre-printing review processes unnoticed, he was found out when readers began calling in to Autocar's offices, thinking there might be a prize involved. Upon learning of this, the magazine's management called for May to be fired.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Television careerEdit

His past television credits include presenting Driven on Channel 4 in 1998, narrating an eight-part BBC One series called Road Rage School,<ref>James May Internet Movie Database</ref> and co-hosting the ITV1 coverage of the 2006 London Boat Show.<ref name="speakerscorner.co.uk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also wrote and presented a Christmas special called James May's Top Toys (for BBC One). James May: My Sisters' Top Toys attempted to investigate the gender divide of toy appeal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In series 3, episode 3<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word, May managed to beat Ramsay in eating bull penis and rotten shark and with his fish pie recipe.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} "The worst ever would have to be James May, with his fish pie. Even though he won, which was extraordinary. He was drinking a bottle of red wine throughout the challenge, so I thought it was in the bag."</ref><ref>[1] "This recipe is Gordon's version of a posh fish pie originally made by James May."</ref>

Top GearEdit

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May was briefly a co-presenter of the original Top Gear series in 1999. During an interview in 2020, Jeremy Clarkson claimed that the show's original producers had decided to replace him with May in 1999, though they felt dissatisfied with May as he was soon fired in 2000, shortly before the entire program was cancelled the following year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following the first season of the show's relaunch in 2002, Clarkson managed to convince Andrew Wilman to rehire him as Jason Dawe's replacement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He first co-presented the revived series of Top Gear in its second series in 2003,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> where he earned the nickname "Captain Slow" owing to his careful driving style, and his OCD-like obsessions with order.<ref name="theage"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite this sobriquet, he has done some especially high-speed driving – in the 2007 series, he took a Bugatti Veyron to its top speed of Template:Convert, then in 2010 he achieved Template:Convert in the Veyron's newer 16.4 Super Sport edition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In an earlier episode he also tested the original version of the Bugatti Veyron against the Pagani Zonda F.

May, along with co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson and an Icelandic support crew, travelled by car to the magnetic North Pole in 2007, using a modified Toyota Hilux.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In the words of Clarkson, May was the first person to go there "who didn't want to be there". He also drove a modified Toyota Hilux up the side of the erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Following the BBC's decision not to renew Jeremy Clarkson's contract with the show on 25 March 2015,<ref name="ClarksonDropped">Template:Cite news</ref> May stated in April 2015 that he would not continue to present Top Gear as part of a new line-up of presenters.<ref name=Guardian>Template:Cite news</ref>

ScienceEdit

May presented Inside Killer Sharks, a documentary for Sky, and James May's 20th Century, investigating inventions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He flew in a Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon at a speed of around 1320 mph (2124 km/h) for his television programme, James May's 20th Century. In late 2008, the BBC broadcast James May's Big Ideas, a three-part series in which May travelled around the globe in search of implementations for concepts widely considered science fiction.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also presented James May's Man Lab from 2010–2013. In 2013, May narrated To Space & Back, a documentary on the influence of developments in space exploration on modern technology produced by Sky-Skan and The Franklin Institute.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

James May on the MoonEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} James May on the Moon (BBC 2, 2009) commemorated 40 years since man first landed on the Moon.<ref name="James May on the Moon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was followed by another documentary on BBC Four called James May at the Edge of Space, where May was flown to the stratosphere (70,000 ft) in a US Air Force Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Highlights of the footage from the training for the flight, and the flight itself was used in James May on the Moon, but was shown fully in this programme.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This made him one of the highest flying people, along with the pilot, at that time, after the crew of the International Space Station.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" />

James May's Toy StoriesEdit

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Beginning in October 2009, May presented a six-part TV series showing favourite toys of the past era and whether they can be applied in the modern-day. The toys featured were Airfix, Plasticine, Meccano, Scalextric, Lego and Hornby. In each show, May attempts to take each toy to its limits, also fulfilling several of his boyhood dreams in the process. In August 2009, May built a full-sized house out of Lego at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Plans for Legoland to move it to their theme park fell through in September 2009 because costs to deconstruct, move and then rebuild were too high;<ref>Radio Times 24–30 October 2009</ref> despite a final Facebook appeal for someone to take it, it was demolished on 22 September, with the plastic bricks planned to be donated to charity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Also for the series, he recreated the banked track at Brooklands using Scalextric track,<ref>May to attempt Scalextric record, BBC News, 7 August 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2009</ref> and an attempt at the world's longest working model railway along the Tarka Trail between Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon, although the attempt was foiled due to parts of the track being stolen and vandals placing coins on the track, causing a short circuit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later, in 2011, May tried for the record again, proposing a race between German model railroad enthusiasts and their British counterparts. The two teams would start at opposite ends along double tracked mainline. This time, the effort succeeded with both teams successfully running three trains the entire route.<ref name="BBC_GTR">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A special Christmas Episode called Flight Club, aired in December 2012. In this special, James and his team built a huge toy glider that flew 22 miles (35 km) from Devon to the island of Lundy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2013, May created a life-size, fully functional motorcycle and sidecar made entirely out of the construction toy Meccano. Joined by Oz Clarke, he then completed a full lap of the Isle of Man TT Course, a full Template:Fraction mile-long circuit.

Oz and JamesEdit

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In late 2006, the BBC broadcast Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, a series in which May, a committed bitter drinker, travelled around France with wine expert Oz Clarke.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A second series was broadcast in late 2007, this time with May and Clarke in the Californian wine country,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was followed by a third series in 2009 called Oz and James Drink to Britain.

James May: Our Man in...Edit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In January 2020, May hosted a travel documentary named James May: Our Man in Japan, the 6-episode series was released on Amazon Prime Video and follows May's journey from the north end of Japan to its south. Over the course of three months, May explores and participate in many activities to truly understand the country which has intrigued him for a long time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the trip through major cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, he is accompanied by a cast of different guides and translators.

A second series, James May: Our Man in Italy, is a travel documentary with May on a journey throughout the regions of Italy from Palermo to the Dolomites on a trip exploring the culture, food, and more.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A third series, James May: Our Man in India, is another travel documentary with James May on a journey throughout the country of India.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In October 2024, May confirmed the series was cancelled.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Internet presenceEdit

May created Head Squeeze<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (now renamed "BBC Earth Lab"; May no longer features as a presenter). The channel is a mix of science, technology, history and current affairs. The first video was published in December 2012. Videos are produced by 360 Production<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for BBC Worldwide.

May created his own YouTube channel, titled "JM's Unemployment Tube", in 2015 after Top Gear was postponed by the BBC following Jeremy Clarkson's dismissal. Mainly featuring cooking videos filmed from his kitchen, as well as mock builds of Airfix models, the channel has over 230,000 subscribers as of March 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

In 2016, May launched, with his former Top Gear presenters, a social network for motoring fans called DriveTribe.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2019, May moved on to created videos on a Drivetribe spin-off brand Foodtribe (replacing JM's Unemployment Tube) frequently using a small, bedsit-like kitchen setup called "The Bug-out Bunker".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The channel has since been rebranded as "What Next?"<ref>Template:YouTube</ref>

May became an Internet meme when one of his Foodtribe videos went viral. In it, while preparing to make two cheese sandwiches, May bluntly uttered the word "cheese" after placing a block of Red Leicester on a table.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The quote went viral, and was used in various memes and image macros.

Personal lifeEdit

May lives in Hammersmith, West London, with art critic Sarah Frater, with whom he has been in a relationship since 2000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2010, May was awarded an honorary doctorate by Lancaster University, where he had previously studied music.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He holds a Doctor of Letters degree.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2014, May was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote against independence from the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2016, he supported Remain in the EU referendum.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> May has described his political leanings as "liberal".<ref name="Crampton"/>

In 2020, May bought half the ownership of a pub in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire, called The Royal Oak,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which dates from the early 18th century and is a Grade II listed building.<ref>Template:National Heritage List for England</ref>

VehiclesEdit

May has owned many cars. These include a 2005 Saab 9-5 Aero, Bentley T2, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Triumph 2000, Rover P6, Alfa Romeo 164, 1971 Rolls-Royce Corniche, Triumph Vitesse, Jaguar XJS, 1992 Range Rover Classic Vogue, Datsun 120Y, Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1, a Ferrari 308 GTB, a 2015 Toyota Mirai, a 2021 Toyota Mirai,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:CbignoreTemplate:Dead YouTube link</ref> Ferrari F430, Ferrari 458 Italia, 1984 Porsche 911 Turbo, a 2019 Tesla Model S 100D,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> a 2016 BMW i3, and a 2005 Porsche Boxster S (which he claims is the first car he has ever purchased new).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

May currently owns a 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera S facelift, a 2018 Alpine A110, a Fiat Panda, a Volkswagen Polo, a Tesla Model 3 Highland, a prototype 1989 Rover Mini Cooper RSP,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "a couple of Land Rovers", a Triumph Stag, a 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale which he ordered following his exit from Top Gear and the VW Beach Buggy used in The Grand Tour Special "The Beach Buggy Boys".<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> He often uses a Brompton folding bicycle for commuting.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He passed his driving test on his second attempt and justified this by saying "All the best people pass the second time".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006, having trained at White Waltham Airfield. He has owned a Luscombe 8A Silvaire, a Cessna A185E Skywagon,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon with registration G-OCOK, which serves as a reference to a common phrase attributed to him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

FilmographyEdit

TelevisionEdit

Year Title Role
1998 Driven Presenter
1999 Top Gear (original run)
2003–15, 2021 Top Gear
2005 James May's Top Toys
2006–07 Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure
2007 Top Gear of the Pops
James May's 20th Century
James May: My Sisters' Top Toys
2008 Top Ground Gear Force
James May's Big Ideas
2009 Oz and James Drink to Britain
James May on the Moon
James May at the Edge of Space
2009–14 James May's Toy Stories
2010 Shooting Stars Guest
2010–13 James May's Man Lab Presenter
2011–12 James May's Things You Need to Know
2014–16 James May's Cars of the People
2014 Phineas and Ferb Ian
2015 Building Cars Live Presenter
2016–17 James May: The Reassembler<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>James May to reassemble Kenwood food mixer in new BBC 'Slow TV' series 6 September 2016</ref>

2016–24 The Grand Tour
2019 James May's Big Trouble in Model Britain
Al Murray's Great British Pub Quiz Guest
2020–24 James May: Our Man in... Presenter
2020–23 James May: Oh Cook!
2023 Little Trains & Big Names with Pete Waterman Guest
Yuganayak Swami Vivekananda Professor
2024 James May and the Dull Men Presenter
2025 The Great Explorers with James May
2025–present The Not Very Grand Tour

DVDEdit

Year Title Label
2006 Oz & James' Big Wine Adventure: Series One Acorn Media
James May's Motormania Car Quiz DMD
2007 James May's 20th Century: The Complete Series ITV
2008 Oz & James' Big Wine Adventure: Series Two Acorn Media
2009 James May's Big Ideas: The Complete Series DMD
James May on the Moon BBC DVD
James May's Amazing Brain Trainer DMD
James May's Toy Stories: The Complete Series Channel 4
Oz and James Drink to Britain Acorn Media
2010 Top Gear: Apocalypse BBC DVD
2011 James May's Man Lab: Series One Acorn Media
Top Gear: At The Movies BBC DVD
2012 James May's Man Lab: Series Two Acorn Media
Top Gear: Worst Car in the History of the World BBC DVD
2013 James May's Man Lab: Series Three Acorn Media
James May's Toy Stories: Balsa Wood Glider/Great Train Race Channel 4
2014 James May's Toy Stories: The Motorcycle Diaries
James May's Toy Stories: Action Man at the Speed of Sound
2016 James May: The Reassembler: Series One Spirit Entertainment Limited
2017 James May: The Reassembler: Series Two

Video gamesEdit

Year Title Developer Role
2013 Forza Motorsport 5 Turn 10 Studios Voice over
2015 Forza Motorsport 6 Turn 10 Studios
2019 The Grand Tour Game Amazon Game Studios

Television advertisementsEdit

Year Title Role
2010 London Pride Himself
2015 The Tank Museum

BibliographyEdit

  • May on Motors: On the Road with James May. Virgin Books. 2006. Reprinted 2007. Template:ISBN
  • Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure. BBC Books. 2006. Template:ISBN
  • Notes from the Hard Shoulder. Virgin Books. 2007. Template:ISBN
  • James May's 20th Century. Hodder & Stoughton. 2007 (H/B). Reprinted 2007 (P/B). Template:ISBN
  • James May's Magnificent Machines. Hodder & Stoughton. 2008. Template:ISBN
  • Oz and James Drink to Britain. Pavilion (Anova). 2009. Template:ISBN
  • James May's Car Fever. Hodder & Stoughton. 2009 (H/B). Reprinted 2010 (P/B). Template:ISBN
  • James May's Toy Stories. Conway (Anova). 2009. Template:ISBN
  • James May's Toy Stories: Lego House. Conway (Anova). 2010. Template:ISBN
  • James May's Toy Stories: Airfix Handbook. Conway (Anova). 2010. Template:ISBN
  • James May's Toy Stories: Scalextric Handbook. Conway (Anova). 2010. Template:ISBN
  • How to Land an A330 Airbus. Hodder & Stoughton. 2010 (H/B). Reprinted 2011 (P/B). Template:ISBN
  • James May's Man Lab: The Book of Usefulness. Hodder & Stoughton. 2011 (H/B). Reprinted 2012 (P/B) Template:ISBN
  • James May: On Board. Hodder & Stoughton. 2012. Template:ISBN
  • James May: The Reassembler. Hodder & Stoughton. 2017. Template:ISBN
  • James May: Oh Cook!. Pavilion. 2020. Template:ISBN
  • Carbolics: A Personal Motoring Disinfectant. Hodder & Stoughton. 2022. Template:ISBN<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Britcar 24 Hour resultsEdit

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Template:Tooltip Class Laps Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Ref
2007 Template:Flagicon Team Top Gear Template:Flagicon Jeremy Clarkson
Template:Flagicon "The Stig"
Template:Flagicon Richard Hammond
BMW 330d 78 4 396 39th 3rd citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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