James May reveals 'great gift' of Top Gear fame: 'We were rubbish...'
James May says he was "rubbish" on stage in his 'Top Gear' days alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.
James May was "rubbish" on stage during his 'Top Gear' days.
The 62-year-old presenter hosted the long-running BBC show in the 2000s alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond but admitted that they "got away" with being less than brilliant when they took the show on the road, although he doesn't have that luxury now as he stars in his solo UK tour 'Explorers: The Age of Discovery'.
Speaking on BBC's 'The One Show', he said: "I asked them about an [autocue] but they said I wouldn't need one.
"To be really honest, we used to do the 'Top Gear' live show and then the Clarkson, Hammond, and May live and the great gift that we had - and I'm not talking about talent - the gift that was given to us was that people expected us to be a bit rubbish.
"So, when we were rubbish - which we were - people just went 'Ha, ha, ha, they're being rubbish'.
"No, we were rubbish. It was real but you can get away with it.
"You can't get that with an informative TED talk on stage, and you've also gotta get the facts right!"
Meanwhile, the former 'Grand Tour' star - who will tour the country with his exploration-themed show in September and October - noted that he has been "very fortunate" to go all around the world with his career, but has no interest in going to space or to another planet.
He said: "I haven't been to space, I've been very high up in the atmosphere so it looks like space on the telly. I've been very fortunate, I've been to a lot of places in the world and the Arctic Circle, deserts, rainforests and Spain - I'm only saying that because I've been to Spain quite recently, and Cornwall - but I wouldn't go to Mars if they suddenly said they needed people for the first Mars mission. "
