Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he underwent a heart procedure after he experienced a “sudden deterioration” in his health.
Writing in his column in The Sunday Times, the 64-year-old said he had symptoms of feeling “clammy”, a “tightness” in his chest, and “pins and needles” in his left arm after returning from a holiday.
Clarkson, who presents the TV programme Clarkson’s Farm, said he went to hospital in an ambulance and had a stent fitted, which opens up narrowed or blocked arteries.
“I certainly wasn’t having a heart attack. But if it hadn’t looked that way, I never would have been sent to hospital,” he said.
While on holiday in the Indian Ocean, the Oxfordshire farmer described how he had to “take a moment to make sure my limbs were working properly” when he stood up, “struggled” with swimming, and could not descend a flight of stairs “without holding someone’s hand”.
“These problems all manifested themselves in one day, which made the rest of my holiday extremely relaxing because all I did was sit in a chair drinking wine and eating cheese,” he said in his column.
“Back at home, though, the sudden deterioration began to gather pace,” he said. “I woke on Wednesday morning not feeling too good. I was clammy and there was a tightness in my chest.”
The ex-Top Gear presenter said he “ignored these things” and later got “pins and needles in my left arm”.
He was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where a heart attack was ruled out after he had underwent checks, which included an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests, and X-rays.
“It seems that of the arteries feeding my heart with nourishing blood, one was completely blocked and the second of three was heading that way,” he said.
Clarkson said he had a stent fitted, which is a tube that is inserted into a narrowed or blocked artery to open it and allow blood to flow more freely.
“The next morning I went home, and here I am, two hours later, writing this and sort of thinking, ‘Crikey, that was close’,” he said.
“Now, thanks to all those tremendous people at the John Radcliffe in Oxford and all of their extraordinary machines, here I am wondering what water tastes like and if it’s possible to make celery interesting.”
Clarkson had previously revealed he had to quit smoking after contracting pneumonia while on holiday in Spain.
He left the TV programme The Grand Tour in September alongside TV show host Richard Hammond and TV presenter James May.
