Jeremy Clarkson has revealed his unsettling yet bizarre thoughts during a life-threatening experience when his plane was struck by lightning.
In a new opinion piece, the 64-year-old former Top Gear host shared details of this terrifying event. Despite the imminent danger, Clarkson experienced an unexpected surge of annoyance.
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Clarkson recounted, “I was in a plane that had been built in Russia in the Fifties and used by the Angolan Air Force before being bought by a ramshackle airline in Cuba.
We were flying into Havana when it was struck by lightning, causing it to flip upside down and start plummeting towards Earth.”
As he faced the prospect of dying, Clarkson’s mind focused on an unusual detail: “Instead of air vents, there were little Pifco-style fans above each seat. As the plane turned over, my hair got caught in the blades.
So, that’s what I was thinking as the engines screamed and the pilot tried to regain control: ‘This is really annoying.’”
This wasn’t the first time Clarkson had spoken about this harrowing ordeal. In a 2009 article for , he expressed similar frustration, particularly as the plane’s toilets emptied their contents into the cabin during the flip.
“You didn’t think about the lavatories, did you? When the plane is upside down, so are they, meaning they empty their entire contents, including some home-made tampons, onto the roof.”
He also recalled his head hitting the fan: “What you get above each seat is a small Pifco fan, and because I was upside down, hanging by my seatbelt, the top of my head was actually in the blades.
It was very uncomfy, having a haircut while the wrong way up, in a tropical thunderstorm, knowing that if the pilot regained control, I’d be getting a brown shower.”
Though Clarkson now jokes about this near-death experience, he has shown a more emotional side on his Amazon TV series, Clarkson’s Farm.
In the third season, the usually stoic presenter was moved to tears after several piglets died on his farm, highlighting a softer aspect of his personality.
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