Jeremy Clarkson Nicknamed Axl Rose Because Of His Obsession With Pink Plonk
Car crazy boozer Jeremy Clarkson was nicknamed Axl Rose by his workmates because of his fondness for pink plonk, a new book claims.
The former Top Gear presenter famed for his bad dress sense and appalling haircut was so enamored by “hen-do” wine, that according to Clarkson’s old BBC producer Richard Porter, he was given the moniker Axl Rose because of his huge appetite for the grape and his willingness to sink the pink in any social situation.
Porter reveals how Clarkson was given the name of the flame-haired, hard rocking Guns N’ Roses vocalist in a new tell-all book entitled And On That Bombshell.
Affectionally regarded as a frizzy haired, pot-bellied madman with a huge comical face by fans of Top Gear, Clarkson is often considered something of a freewheeling maverick in the motoring world.
Like Axl, who has blazed a trail of his own in the world of heavy metal, Clarkson is also renowned for his unhinged and fiery outbursts on the car circuit.
Indeed, it was Clarkson’s brattish behavior and surly attitude, with a liberal sprinkling of the pink stuff on top, which conspired to create the mother of all tantrums and ended with the wine guzzling lout’s dismissal from Top Gear last March.
On the occasion when Clarkson punched Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon, because the hotel he was staying at failed to serve hot food, the petulant petrol head was reportedly downing pink wine throughout the night with grape-loving gusto.
The Daily Mail reports that Porter, one of Top Gear’s most senior producers and former script editor for the show, writes about Clarkson’s affinity for “hen-do fuel” in the knowing tones of one stricken with a world-weary sadness.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw Jeremy enjoying a pint of beer or a Scotch. His longstanding booze of choice was delicate “hen-do” fuel. It earned him the office nickname Axl Rose.”
Clarkson has often been pictured in the past defiantly brandishing his pink tipple of choice, and earlier this year, it was revealed that Clarkson and his Top Gear Live co-presenters, Richard Hammond and James May, demanded that more than 20 bottles of wine be on hand in the green room for the three motoring musketeers to enjoy.
It is rumored that Château Léoube rosé was Clarkson’s preferred tipple. A vintage the big man preferred pale dry and preferably from the south of France.
Yet even the finest wines known to humanity can become somewhat tiresome after a while, and in June, Clarkson claimed he had finally quit the pink stuff and hung up his Axl Rose nickname for good after watching a documentary on the troubled life and death of singer Amy Winehouse.
[Lead Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images]
