TurnerGTX
Active Member
IT?S one of the most popular shows on television ? watched by legions of loyal fans all over the world.
But the cult following of Top Gear ? which has earned fame and notoriety in equal measure for its high-octane stunts ? has failed to save the programme from a ferocious assault from the most unlikely of sources.
Quentin Willson, the smooth-talking presenter who fronted the show in its mid-1990s incarnation, yesterday described current presenter Jeremy Clarkson as ?rooted in the past?, and claimed its hero worship of gas-guzzling fast cars had no place in more environmentally-conscious times.
In Cardiff yesterday, Mr Willson urged the public to move away from the glamorised view of high-emission cars seen on the BBC programme.
Features on Top Gear in recent years have included ?drive until you get bored?, in which Clarkson drove a Jaguar XJ for as long as his interest would sustain him, ?car football?, which used two teams of Toyota Aygos instead of players, and a series of long-distance races in high-performance vehicles.
Asked whether the philosophy underlying Top Gear could be sustained, Mr Willson said: ?No, completely not. Bless him, the tall fella [Clarkson].
?He?s a bit rooted in the past. It?s very funny to say, ?Here?s a green Lamborghini. You want a green car? There it is?.
?But that way disaster lies. Only the other night, I saw them do a thing about getting the most out of cars and miles to the gallon, things like that. Anyone who claims that things aren?t changing ? you just can?t do that any more.
?The golden age of transport and motoring is gone. And it was lovely.
?It was great to be there. But now the change is seismic. Absolutely seismic. Not just in the public sector, but in the private sector too. And you?ve just got to embrace that change for the exciting thing that it is. Cars will be fast, but they?ll be silent and there will be zero emission. And that?s great.
?Don?t look at programmes like Top Gear and think this is the majority view. It?s not. The majority view is a lot more level-headed and it?s a lot more practical. It?s a wonderful form of vicarious entertainment, but the reality is that we?ve got a global crisis here, we?ve got to manage our resources, we?ve got to stop being an oil economy, and we?ve got to embrace a fantastic, exciting future.?
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/11/26/former-top-gear-presenter-willson-blasts-clarkson-crew-91466-22341158/