TV PRESENTER Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he underwent a heart procedure after experiencing a ‘sudden deterioration’ in his health.
The 64-year-old former Top Gear host, who currently presents Clarkson’s Farm on Prime Video, spoke in his column in newspaper The Sunday Times about what he called the ‘wearisome effects of growing old’.
Mr Clarkson detailed how a swim in the Indian Ocean during a holiday appeared to cause him difficulties using the stairs, which when he returned home meant a ‘sudden deterioration began to gather pace’.
He said he had symptoms of being ‘clammy’, with a ‘tightness in my chest’, and ‘pins and needles in my left arm’.
After hearing the news of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond’s fatal heart attack, Mr Clarkson decided to go to see his doctor.
He said he went to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford via an ambulance, where a heart attack was ruled out after he had an electrocardiogram, blood tests and X-rays.
He then went to an operating theatre after further checks, with doctors saying he was potentially ‘days away’ from getting very ill.
“It seems that of the arteries feeding my heart with nourishing blood, one was completely blocked and the second of three was heading that way,” he said.
Mr Clarkson said that he had a stent fitted in around two hours.
“It wasn’t especially painful, just odd,” the motoring journalist said.
He added that he has been thinking: “Crikey, that was close.”
Mr Clarkson concluded by saying he was ‘wondering what water tastes like and if it’s possible to make celery interesting’ following the health scare as he appeared to consider lessening his meat intake.
The TV presenter has previously revealed he had to quit smoking after contracting pneumonia on holiday in Spain.
Last month, Mr Clarkson, along with Richard Hammond and James May, left behind the group’s show The Grand Tour on Prime Video.
Mr Clarkson also recently opened a pub, The Farmer’s Dog in Asthall near Burford in Oxfordshire, close to where he lives near Chipping Norton.
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