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'James Daniel May' (born January 16th 1963 in Bristol, England) is a television presenter and award-winning journalist.
He is best known as co-presenter of motoring programme ''Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He also writes a weekly column for ''The Daily Telegraph's'' motoring section. On ''Top Gear'', his nickname is "Captain Slow", as he always finishes last in high speed track races and generally presents with a laconic style. He has, however, carried out some exceptionally high-speed driving. He has become one of the very few in the world to have taken a Bugatti Veyron to its top speed of nearly 253 mph (407 km/h), or precisely one-third of the speed of sound.
He and Jeremy Clarkson were the first people (together with a small Icelandic support crew) to reach the Magnetic North Pole in a car. The expedition was aired on a ''Top Gear'' special on BBC Two on July 25th 2007. May was also, according to Clarkson, the first man to reach the Magnetic North Pole who didn’t really want to go there in the first place.

Contents

Biography

Journalism career

Television career

Personal life

Dismissal from ''Autocar'' magazine

Works

Television

DVD

Books

References

External links

Biography

James May was born in Bristol but moved around the country in his childhood, spending his teenage years in South Yorkshire, where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School (now Oakwood Technology College). He regularly attended Whiston Parish Church with his father, where Reverend G. C. Mills was rector. A keen flautist and pianist, he later studied music at Lancaster University.
He currently lives in Hammersmith, London, with his cat, Fusker.

Journalism career

During the early-1990s, May worked as a sub-editor for ''The Engineer'' and later ''Autocar'' magazine. He has written for several publications, including a regular column called ''England Made Me'' in ''CAR'' magazine and articles for ''Top Gear Magazine'', as well as a weekly column in ''The Daily Telegraph''. In 2000 he won the Guild of Motoring Writers Journalist of the Year award.
He has written a book titled ''May On Motors'', which is a collection of his published articles. In the autumn of 2006, the BBC broadcast ''Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure'', a series in which James, a committed brown beer drinker, travelled around France with wine expert Oz Clarke. May co-authored the book accompanying the series. He has also written the afterword to ''Long Lane with Turnings'', published in September 2006, the final book by motoring legend L. J. K. Setright. In the same month he co-presented a tribute to Raymond Baxter. His new book, ''Notes From The Hard Shoulder'', was published on 26 April 2007.

Television career

His past television credits include presenting ''Driven'' on Channel 4 in 1998-1999, narrating an eight part BBC One series called ''Road Rage School'', writing and presenting a one-off Christmas special called ''James May's Top Toys'' (also for BBC One), and co-hosting the ITV1 coverage of the ''2006 London Boat Show''. He first co-presented ''Top Gear'' in 1999, before it was cancelled by the BBC due to low ratings. He rejoined the show in the second series of the present ''Top Gear'' format. On 29 January 2006 he presented ''Top of the Pops'' on BBC Two. In August 2006, it was revealed that May has contributed to the online motoring humour magazine ''Sniff Petrol''.^[1]
He has also presented a documentary for Sky about sharks. In February 2006 and February 2007, May was a guest on the BBC Radio 3 classical music interview programme, ''Private Passions''.^[2]. He was also a guest on Gordon Ramsay's The F-Word, where he was challenged by Ramsay in two tasks. First by a culinary test: drinking snake whiskey, as well as eating bull's penis and 'rotting shark'. May won as Ramsay finally vomited whilst eating the shark. Then, May competed against Ramsay in the Celebrity Challenge. They both made fish pie; May won with three votes to Ramsay's two.
James also appeared as a guest on ''Have I Got News for You'' as a team mate to Ian Hislop, first broadcast on 25 May 2007. ''James May's 20th Century'' began on July 10.

Personal life

May has owned several cars, including a Bentley T2, a Jaguar XJS, a Range Rover, a Fiat Panda, a Porsche 911, a Porsche Boxster S (May claims this is the first car he has ever purchased new^[3]), a Mini Cooper and several motorbikes. He has a penchant for prestige cars like Rolls Royce and Bentley, as well as simple and basic cars.
He obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006 having trained at White Waltham Airfield. Although he had not qualified at the time, he was still able to fly a Cessna 182 in a ''Top Gear'' challenge with Richard Hammond as a passenger. During the race they had to land and continue via Eurostar, as his VFR rating prevented him from night flying at the time, which requires a night rating. He owns a Luscombe 8A 'Silvaire'.
He failed his driving test the first time, but passed on his second attempt.
As well as being known as "Captain Slow" on Top Gear, he is also known for his belief that bigger is better when it comes to testing or buying vehicles. This led to his testing an LDV Convoy, Renault Master, and a V12 Jaguar XJS, among other things.
His favourite things include American hard gums (a type of sweet), real ale, cats, model trains and Scalextric. He also has a penchant for "nice girls in rubbish cars" who have "their own breasts".

Dismissal from ''Autocar'' magazine

In an interview with Richard Allinson on BBC Radio 2,^[4] May confessed that he was fired in 1992 from ''Autocar'' magazine after putting together a hidden message in one issue. At the end of the year, the magazine's "Road Test Year Book" supplement was published. Each spread featured four car reviews and each review started with a large, red, drop capital letter. May's role was to put the entire supplement together, which "was extremely boring and took several months". He went on to say:

May's original message, punctuated appropriately, reads: "Road Test Year Book. So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up. It's a real pain in the arse."

Works

Television

★ ''Top Gear'' (18 March–3 June 1999; 11 May 2003–)

★ ''James May's Top Toys'' (2005)

★ ''Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure'' (2006)

★ ''Inside Killer Sharks'' (2006)

★ ''James May's 20th Century'' (2007)

DVD

★ ''James Mays Motormania Car Quiz'' (2006)

★ ''Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure'' (2006)

Books

★ ''May On Motors'' (2006), ISBN 0-7535-1186-X

★ ''Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure'' (2006), ISBN 0-563-53900-3

★ ''Notes from the Hard Shoulder'' (2007), ISBN 9780753512029

References

1. http://www.sniffpetrol.com/issue075.html
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/privatepassions/pip/cvs60/
3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2005/10/22/mrmay22.xml
4. BBC Radio 2, broadcast 6 January 2006.

External links

★ www.james-may.co.uk (authorised website)

★ www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring (James May's weekly motoring column)

★ 2007 Motorshows featuring James May

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