After a period of intense speculation, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that the driver known as the Stig, is in fact a serial arsonist responsible for the deaths of up to forty-six people. The announcement came on Sunday’s edition of the program where the Stig was confronted with photographs showing him throwing a crudely made Molotov cocktail through the window of a home for the elderly. He was then pictured running away from the scene and ultimately giggling in a shed. Asked to explain his actions, the Stig replied simply, “I am who I am.”The revelation prompted several complaints from irate viewers demanding that the Stig be sacked. Though these were subsequently withdrawn after Clarkson had assured fans that a lot of the people burnt to death had French-sounding names and that others had definitely been vegetarians. Though no stranger to controversy in the past, the BBC’s flagship motoring show has continued to entertain the nation with its characteristic combination of amusing stunts and good natured high jinks.
This year these have included an amusing review of the latest Range Rover, which revealed how eagerly the French had collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War, entitled “An examination of why all French cars and people are rubbish.” The whimsical new title sequence showing a pair of actors dressed up like President Sarkozy and his wife being repeatedly mown down by a four-door Morris Marina has also proven very popular.
However, such japery has not been welcomed by all, and the most recent programme which featured Richard Hammond racing the latest Volkswagen beetle from Berlin to Paris against James May in a 1942 model Henschel & Sohn Waffen-SS Tiger MkII tank came under fire from a Maurice Gourdault-Montagne who phoned into Points of View calling himself the French Ambassador. “It was in very bad taste and should never have been given the go ahead,” said His Excellency, “though it was good that the Hamster won, ses cheveux sont très beaux et longs...”
