James May
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James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is an English television presenter, author and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter, alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, of the motoring programme Top Gear from 2003 until 2015 and the television series The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime Video from 2016 to 2024. He also served as a director of the production company W. Chump & Sons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
May has presented other programmes on themes including travel, science & technology, toys, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. He wrote a weekly column for The Daily TelegraphTemplate:'s motoring section from 2003 to 2011.
Early life
James Daniel May was born in Bristol, the son of aluminium factory manager James May and his wife Kathleen. He was one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> May attended Caerleon Endowed School in Newport, Wales. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
May studied music at Pendle College, Lancaster University, where he learned to play the flute and piano; he also spent a year studying metalwork at a technical college.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Crampton">Template:Cite web</ref> After graduating, May briefly worked in a number of jobs including for a car dealer, at a jewelry shop, in a pub, at a hospital in Chelsea as a records officer and had a short stint in the civil service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He then took up journalism and broadcasting in his thirties.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also held a part-time job as a moulder at the foundry his father was employed at and suggested in a 2017 interview with The Times that this formed his interest in mechanics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Journalism career
In 1989, May began working as a sub-editor for The Engineer and later for Autocar magazine in the early 1990s, from which he was dismissed for performing a prank.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He subsequently wrote car review columns for Scotland on Sunday and Country Life and revealed in a 2025 interview with The Times that he was also sacked from those two positions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has since written for several publications, including the regular column England Made Me in Car Magazine, articles for Top Gear magazine, and a weekly column in The Daily Telegraph.
He has written the book May on Motors (2006), which is a collection of his published articles, and co-authored Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure (2006), based on the TV series of the same name. He wrote the afterword to Long Lane with Turnings, published in September 2006, the final book by motoring writer L. J. K. Setright. In the same month, he co-presented a tribute to Raymond Baxter. Notes From The Hard Shoulder and James May's 20th Century, a book to accompany the television series of the same name, were published in 2007.
Dismissal from Autocar
In an interview with Richard Allinson on BBC Radio 2,<ref>BBC Radio 2, broadcast 6 January 2006</ref> May confessed that in 1992 he was dismissed from Autocar magazine after putting together an acrostic in one issue. At the end of the year, the magazine's "Road Test Yearbook" supplement was published. Each spread featured four reviews and each review started with a large red letter (known in typography as an initial or a drop cap). May's role was to put the entire supplement together.
To alleviate the tedium, May wrote each review such that the initials on the first four spreads read "ROAD", "TEST", "YEAR" and "BOOK". Subsequent spreads seemingly had random letters, starting with "SOYO" and "UTHI"; when punctuated, these letters spelt out the message: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse."<ref name="theage">Template:Cite news</ref>
In a 2019 interview with Carscoops.com, May stated that while the hidden message originally passed through the magazine's pre-printing review processes unnoticed, he was found out when readers began calling in to AutocarTemplate:'s offices, thinking there might be a prize involved. Upon learning of this, the magazine's management called for May to be fired.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Television career
His past television credits include presenting Driven on Channel 4 in 1998, narrating an eight-part BBC One series called Road Rage School,<ref>James May Internet Movie Database</ref> and co-hosting the ITV1 coverage of the 2006 London Boat Show.<ref name="speakerscorner.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> He also wrote and presented a Christmas special called James May's Top Toys (for BBC One). James May: My Sisters' Top Toys attempted to investigate the gender divide of toy appeal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In series 3, episode 3<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word, May managed to beat Ramsay in eating bull penis and rotten shark and with his fish pie recipe.<ref>Template:Cite web "The worst ever would have to be James May, with his fish pie. Even though he won, which was extraordinary. He was drinking a bottle of red wine throughout the challenge, so I thought it was in the bag."</ref><ref>[1] "This recipe is Gordon's version of a posh fish pie originally made by James May."</ref>
Top Gear
May was briefly a co-presenter of the original Top Gear series in 1999. During an interview in 2020, Jeremy Clarkson claimed that the show's original producers had decided to replace him with May in 1999, though they felt dissatisfied with May as he was soon fired in 2000, shortly before the entire programme was cancelled the following year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2002, May auditioned for the new version of Top Gear but was initially rejected by BBC executives who felt that his background was too similar to Clarkson and Hammond's and had limited appeal. Following the first season of Top Gear's relaunch, Clarkson managed to convince the show's producer Andy Wilman in 2003 to rehire May as Jason Dawe's replacement. By May's admission in 2025, he and Clarkson had met during the launch of a new Audi A4 convertible in France and after disagreeing on the car, Clarkson had thought the bickering between them would work on the programme.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
May first co-presented the revived series of Top Gear in its second series in 2003,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> where he earned the nickname "Captain Slow" owing to his careful driving style, and his OCD-like obsessions with order.<ref name="theage"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite this sobriquet, he has done some especially high-speed driving – in the 2007 series, he took a Bugatti Veyron to its top speed of Template:Convert, then in 2010 he achieved Template:Convert in the Veyron's newer 16.4 Super Sport edition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In an earlier episode he also tested the original version of the Bugatti Veyron against the Pagani Zonda F.
May, along with co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson and an Icelandic support crew, travelled by car to the magnetic North Pole in 2007, using a modified Toyota Hilux.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In the words of Clarkson, May was the first person to go there "who didn't want to be there". He also drove a modified Toyota Hilux up the side of the erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Following the BBC's decision not to renew Jeremy Clarkson's contract with the show on 25 March 2015,<ref name="ClarksonDropped">Template:Cite news</ref> May stated in April 2015 that he would not continue to present Top Gear as part of a new line-up of presenters.<ref name=Guardian>Template:Cite news</ref>
Science
May presented Inside Killer Sharks, a documentary for Sky, and James May's 20th Century, investigating inventions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He flew in a Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon at a speed of around 1320 mph (2124 km/h) for his television programme, James May's 20th Century. In late 2008, the BBC broadcast James May's Big Ideas, a three-part series in which May travelled around the globe in search of implementations for concepts widely considered science fiction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also presented James May's Man Lab from 2010 to 2013. In 2013, May narrated To Space & Back, a documentary on the influence of developments in space exploration on modern technology produced by Sky-Skan and The Franklin Institute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
James May on the Moon
Template:Main James May on the Moon (BBC 2, 2009) commemorated 40 years since man first landed on the Moon.<ref name="James May on the Moon">Template:Cite web</ref> This was followed by another documentary on BBC Four called James May at the Edge of Space, where May was flown to the stratosphere (70,000 ft) in a US Air Force Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Highlights of the footage from the training for the flight, and the flight itself was used in James May on the Moon, but was shown fully in this programme.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> This made him one of the highest flying people, along with the pilot, at that time, after the crew of the International Space Station.<ref name="bbc.co.uk" />
James May's Toy Stories
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Beginning in October 2009, May presented a six-part TV series showing favourite toys of the past era and whether they can be applied in the modern-day. The toys featured were Airfix, Plasticine, Meccano, Scalextric, Lego and Hornby. In each show, May attempts to take each toy to its limits, also fulfilling several of his boyhood dreams in the process. In August 2009, May built a full-sized house out of Lego at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Plans for Legoland to move it to their theme park fell through in September 2009 because costs to deconstruct, move and then rebuild were too high;<ref>Radio Times 24–30 October 2009</ref> despite a final Facebook appeal for someone to take it, it was demolished on 22 September, with the plastic bricks planned to be donated to charity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Also for the series, he recreated the banked track at Brooklands using Scalextric track,<ref>May to attempt Scalextric record, BBC News, 7 August 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2009</ref> and an attempt at the world's longest working model railway along the Tarka Trail between Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon, although the attempt was foiled due to parts of the track being stolen and vandals placing coins on the track, causing a short circuit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later, in 2011, May tried for the record again, proposing a race between German model railroad enthusiasts and their British counterparts. The two teams would start at opposite ends along double tracked mainline. This time, the effort succeeded with both teams successfully running three trains the entire route.<ref name="BBC_GTR">Template:Cite web</ref>
A special Christmas Episode called Flight Club, aired in December 2012. In this special, James and his team built a huge toy glider that flew 22 miles (35 km) from Devon to the island of Lundy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2013, May created a life-size, fully functional motorcycle and sidecar made entirely out of the construction toy Meccano. Joined by Oz Clarke, he then completed a full lap of the Isle of Man TT Course, a full Template:Fraction mile-long circuit.
Oz and James
In late 2006, the BBC broadcast Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, a series in which May, a committed bitter drinker, travelled around France with wine expert Oz Clarke.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A second series was broadcast in late 2007, this time with May and Clarke in the Californian wine country,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was followed by a third series in 2009 called Oz and James Drink to Britain.
James May: Our Man in...
Template:Main In January 2020, May hosted a travel documentary named James May: Our Man in Japan, the 6-episode series was released on Amazon Prime Video and follows May's journey from the north end of Japan to its south. Over the course of three months, May explores and participate in many activities to truly understand the country which has intrigued him for a long time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the trip through major cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, he is accompanied by a cast of different guides and translators.
A second series, James May: Our Man in Italy, is a travel documentary with May on a journey throughout the regions of Italy from Palermo to the Dolomites on a trip exploring the culture, food, and more.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A third series, James May: Our Man in India, is another travel documentary with James May on a journey throughout the country of India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2024, May confirmed the series was cancelled.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Internet presence
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May created Head Squeeze<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (now renamed "BBC Earth Lab"; May no longer features as a presenter). The channel is a mix of science, technology, history and current affairs. The first video was published in December 2012. Videos are produced by 360 Production<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for BBC Worldwide.
May created his own YouTube channel, titled "JM's Unemployment Tube", in 2015 after Top Gear was postponed by the BBC following Jeremy Clarkson's dismissal. Mainly featuring cooking videos filmed from his kitchen, as well as mock builds of Airfix models, the channel has over 235,000 subscribers as of July 2025.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
He has since moved on and created a new channel, titled "James May's Planet Gin" where he covers similar topics as on his previous channel but with a higher production quality. He also promotes his own gin business "James Gin" which he has been running since 2021. As of July 2025, the channel has approximately 653,000 subscribers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2016, May launched, with his former Top Gear presenters, a social network for motoring fans called DriveTribe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2019, May moved on to created videos on a Drivetribe spin-off brand Foodtribe (replacing JM's Unemployment Tube) frequently using a small, bedsit-like kitchen setup called "The Bug-out Bunker".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The channel has since been rebranded as "What Next?"<ref>Template:YouTube</ref>
May became an Internet meme when one of his Foodtribe videos went viral. In it, while preparing to make two cheese sandwiches, May bluntly uttered the word "cheese" after placing a block of Red Leicester on a table.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The quote went viral, and was used in various memes and image macros.
Personal life
May currently owns homes in Wiltshire and Hammersmith, West London, with art critic Sarah Frater, with whom he has been in a relationship since 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2010, May was awarded an honorary doctorate by Lancaster University, where he had previously studied music.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He holds a Doctor of Letters degree.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2020, May bought half the ownership of a pub in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire, called The Royal Oak,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which dates from the early 18th century and is a Grade II listed building.<ref>Template:National Heritage List for England</ref>
Views and advocacy
In August 2014, May was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote against independence from the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue and supported Scotland remaining part of the UK.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In June 2016, he supported Remain in the EU referendum.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> May has described his political leanings as "liberal".<ref name="Crampton"/> During a 2024 interview with The Daily Telegraph on the topics of masculinity, hobbies and the impact of politics on the car industry, May argued "I believe in progress, in the modern world" but criticised the effects of what he termed the " wokerati" on broadcast media for encouraging negative stereotypes that traditional engineering pursuits are "pale, male and stale" and said "You do see people saying white men are the root of all problems, and I'm sure we have been the root of many of them. But I certainly don't feel obliged to go round apologising for being an old white man, because I can operate a screw-cutting lathe and most people can't."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Vehicles
May has owned many cars. These include a 2005 Saab 9-5 Aero, Bentley T2, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Triumph 2000, Rover P6, Alfa Romeo 164, 1971 Rolls-Royce Corniche, Triumph Vitesse, Jaguar XJS, 1992 Range Rover Classic Vogue, Datsun 120Y, Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1, a Ferrari 308 GTB, a 2015 Toyota Mirai, a 2021 Toyota Mirai,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:CbignoreTemplate:Dead YouTube link</ref> Ferrari F430, Ferrari 458 Italia, 1984 Porsche 911 Turbo, a 2019 Tesla Model S 100D,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> a 2016 BMW i3, and a 2005 Porsche Boxster S (which he claims is the first car he has ever purchased new).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
May currently owns a 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera S facelift, a 2018 Alpine A110, a Fiat Panda, a Volkswagen Polo, a Tesla Model 3 Highland, a prototype 1989 Rover Mini Cooper RSP,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "a couple of Land Rovers", a Triumph Stag, a 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale which he ordered following his exit from Top Gear and the VW Beach Buggy used in The Grand Tour Special "The Beach Buggy Boys".<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> He often uses a Brompton folding bicycle for commuting.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He passed his driving test on his second attempt and justified this by saying "All the best people pass the second time".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006, having trained at White Waltham Airfield. He has owned a Luscombe 8A Silvaire, a Cessna A185E Skywagon,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon with registration G-OCOK, which serves as a reference to a common phrase attributed to him.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Filmography
Television
DVD
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Oz & James' Big Wine Adventure: Series One | Acorn Media |
| James May's Motormania Car Quiz | DMD | |
| 2007 | James May's 20th Century: The Complete Series | ITV |
| 2008 | Oz & James' Big Wine Adventure: Series Two | Acorn Media |
| 2009 | James May's Big Ideas: The Complete Series | DMD |
| James May on the Moon | BBC DVD | |
| James May's Amazing Brain Trainer | DMD | |
| James May's Toy Stories: The Complete Series | Channel 4 | |
| Oz and James Drink to Britain | Acorn Media | |
| 2010 | Top Gear: Apocalypse | BBC DVD |
| 2011 | James May's Man Lab: Series One | Acorn Media |
| Top Gear: At The Movies | BBC DVD | |
| 2012 | James May's Man Lab: Series Two | Acorn Media |
| Top Gear: Worst Car in the History of the World | BBC DVD | |
| 2013 | James May's Man Lab: Series Three | Acorn Media |
| James May's Toy Stories: Balsa Wood Glider/Great Train Race | Channel 4 | |
| 2014 | James May's Toy Stories: The Motorcycle Diaries | |
| James May's Toy Stories: Action Man at the Speed of Sound | ||
| 2016 | James May: The Reassembler: Series One | Spirit Entertainment Limited |
| 2017 | James May: The Reassembler: Series Two |
Video games
| Year | Title | Developer | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Forza Motorsport 5 | Turn 10 Studios | Voice over |
| 2015 | Forza Motorsport 6 | Turn 10 Studios | |
| 2019 | The Grand Tour Game | Amazon Game Studios |
Television advertisements
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | London Pride | Himself |
| 2015 | The Tank Museum |
Bibliography
- May on Motors: On the Road with James May. Virgin Books. 2006. Reprinted 2007. Template:ISBN
- Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure. BBC Books. 2006. Template:ISBN
- Notes from the Hard Shoulder. Virgin Books. 2007. Template:ISBN
- James May's 20th Century. Hodder & Stoughton. 2007 (H/B). Reprinted 2007 (P/B). Template:ISBN
- James May's Magnificent Machines. Hodder & Stoughton. 2008. Template:ISBN
- Oz and James Drink to Britain. Pavilion (Anova). 2009. Template:ISBN
- James May's Car Fever. Hodder & Stoughton. 2009 (H/B). Reprinted 2010 (P/B). Template:ISBN
- James May's Toy Stories. Conway (Anova). 2009. Template:ISBN
- James May's Toy Stories: Lego House. Conway (Anova). 2010. Template:ISBN
- James May's Toy Stories: Airfix Handbook. Conway (Anova). 2010. Template:ISBN
- James May's Toy Stories: Scalextric Handbook. Conway (Anova). 2010. Template:ISBN
- How to Land an A330 Airbus. Hodder & Stoughton. 2010 (H/B). Reprinted 2011 (P/B). Template:ISBN
- James May's Man Lab: The Book of Usefulness. Hodder & Stoughton. 2011 (H/B). Reprinted 2012 (P/B) Template:ISBN
- James May: On Board. Hodder & Stoughton. 2012. Template:ISBN
- James May: The Reassembler. Hodder & Stoughton. 2017. Template:ISBN
- James May: Oh Cook!. Pavilion. 2020. Template:ISBN
- Carbolics: A Personal Motoring Disinfectant. Hodder & Stoughton. 2022. Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Britcar 24 Hour results
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Template:Tooltip | Class | Laps | Template:Tooltip | Template:Tooltip | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Template:Flagicon Team Top Gear | Template:Flagicon Jeremy Clarkson Template:Flagicon "The Stig" Template:Flagicon Richard Hammond |
BMW 330d | 78 | 4 | 396 | 39th | 3rd | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
References
External links
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- 1963 births
- 20th-century English journalists
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- Alumni of Lancaster University
- Alumni of Pendle College, Lancaster
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- British motoring journalists
- English male journalists
- English television presenters
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- Living people
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