Jeremy Clarkson moans 'not allowed to have fun' after heart operation

Jeremy Clarkson says he is 'not allowed to have fun anymore' as he sets out to drastically change his lifestyle after undergoing heart surgery.  

The former Top Gear host, 64, revealed he was 'days away from death' after falling unwell following a swim in the Indian Ocean while on holiday.

Clarkson returned to Britain and a 'sudden deterioration began to gather pace' with him feeling 'clammy', 'tightness in my chest', and 'pins and needles in my left arm'. 

This led him to being admitted to hospital where a heart attack was ruled out after he had an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests and X-rays.

Following the life-saving surgery, he has been warned by doctors that he must make major changes to his lifestyle.

The Diddly Squat farm star acknowledged these changes need to be made but he has labelled them as 'terrifying' as he is no longer 'allowed to have fun any more'.

His doctors told him there was a five per cent chance that his heart would stop but he quipped that there was the same chance he would be eaten by lions.

And while this is might be a frightening thought, Clarkson admitted that the changes he has to make following the surgery is what is truly daunting.

Writing in the Sun, he said: 'What is scary though is what came afterwards. The advice on how I must live my life from now on. 

'Literally, I am not allowed to have fun any more. I must live in a Liberal-Democrat, holier-than-thou fog of weeds, seeds and yoga. This is terrifying.

'And if I go to a party, I must stand in a corner, nursing some refreshing elderflower juice, before going home at about 9.30. That’s terrifying too.'

The 64-year-old also said that he was aware that his lifestyle was unhealthy, and he was unconcerned by the thought of dying, but now wants to see his 'grandchildren grow up'. 

Despite the health shock, Clarkson admitted he wouldn't change how he has lived his life throughout the years.

He revealed he started smoking at age 14 becoming a 'world champion, sucking down sixty Marlboro Reds a day' and told how he is a 'big time' drinker.

He added: 'I always knew this lifestyle wasn’t going to cause me to live to 112, and I didn’t really care.

'Because why deny yourself all that fun in your thirties and forties and even fifties just so you can have as long as possible with a grey face and a tube up your nose in an old people’s home?

'Here’s the thing, though. I’m now 64 and last week, when the Grim Reaper poked his nose round the door, I decided that actually, I quite fancied living a little bit longer. '

His doctors also told him that 'a lot' of his current work will have 'to go', and suggested replacing it with golf. 

Clarkson currently writes three newspaper columns a week, runs a brewery, a pub, a shop and a farm, which he documents on TV series Clarkson's Farm, while also hosting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He has also recently released a new book.

Although he remains adamant he will continue to work - the health scare has been enough to shock meat-eater Clarkson into rethinking his diet as he contemplates ways to 'make celery interesting'.

However, he dismissed the idea of stopping work, saying he would 'carry on' and just change his diet. 

Clarkson wrote in his column in The Sunday Times how he felt 'mostly dead' after returning to the beach after a short swim.  

He  wrote in his column in The Sunday Times how he felt 'mostly dead' after returning to beach after a short swim. He spent the rest of his break on a tropical island eating cheese and drinking wine.

It was only when he returned to Britain and he was loading 30 pigs onto a 'slaughterhouse school bus' that he noticed pins and needles in his left arm.

He then went to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford via an ambulance, where a heart attack was ruled out after he had an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests and X-rays. 

Clarkson said the operation took around two hours and 'at one point it felt like he's put a Hoover pipe up may arm, along with a pile driver, and was busy inside my heart with a B&Q chisel and hammer gift set'.  

He was fitted with a stent to his hold his arteries open, to improve blood flow to his heart and relieve his chest pain.

A stent is a wire mesh tube that props open arteries. To open the narrowed artery, the surgeon may perform what's known as an angioplasty.

This involves making a small incision in a patient's arm or leg, through which a wire with an attached deflated balloon is thread through up to the coronary arteries.

He said a stent, which can save lives and stop future heart attacks through improving blood flow to the heart, was fitted in around two hours.

The motoring journalist said: 'It wasn't especially painful. Just odd,' and added that he has been thinking: 'Crikey, that was close.'

Clarkson concluded saying he was 'wondering what water tastes like and if it's possible to make celery interesting' following the health scare, as he seemed to consider lessening his meat intake.

Fans were left concerned two days ago when the veteran TV presenter appeared in a post on Instagram wearing what appeared to be a surgical plaster. 

One asked 'how'd you hurt your wrist, Jezza?' while another thought the 'wrist injury is worrying'. 

Clarkson nine days ago shared exotic snaps on Instagram of 'nine sunsets from an amazing holiday' showing waves crashing against a sun-kissed sandy beach. 

Clarkson has previously revealed he had to quit smoking after contracting pneumonia on holiday in Spain.

Last month Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left their show The Grand Tour behind on Prime Video.

Clarkson has continued to present Clarkson's Farm, which covers him running his Oxfordshire farm, on Prime Video, as well as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on ITV.

He recently opened a pub, called The Farmer's Dog, in Asthall, near Burford, close to where he lives near Chipping Norton.