Clarkson Recalls Traumatic Boarding School Ordeal
Jeremy Clarkson has disclosed that he was reduced to a “gibbering, sobbing, suicidal wreck” due to unrelenting bullying during his time at Repton School in Derbyshire. The Clarkson’s Farm star, now 66, attended the boarding school, where fees currently stand at around £9,000 per term. He left with a C and two Us at A-level before rising to 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 years there were overshadowed by what he described as “many terrible things.”
Details of the Abuse
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.”
He added: “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.”
Academic Achievements and Expulsion
Despite the bullying, Clarkson achieved nine O-levels but was later expelled for drinking and smoking in local pubs before completing his studies. He acknowledged that 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.”
Recent Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
Clarkson disclosed his prostate cancer diagnosis last month in the most recent episodes of his reality show Clarkson’s Farm. In a subsequent interview with The Sunday Times, he confirmed that a PSA test two months ago showed no indication of cancer and that he is in remission.
In the week Clarkson went public with his diagnosis, he prompted more than 50,000 men to check their 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. The charity website prostatecanceruk.org also saw a spike in traffic, 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 [email protected] or visit https://www.samaritans.org/
