Jeremy Clarkson had heart procedure after 'sudden deterioration' in health

Jeremy Clarkson said he underwent a heart procedure after experiencing a “sudden deterioration” in his health.

The 64-year-old host of Amazon Prime Video's Clarkson’s Farm wrote in his Sunday Times column about his battle with the "wearisome effects of growing old".

Clarkson said how a swim while on holiday in the Indian Ocean appeared to cause him difficulties using the stairs, which when he returned home meant a “sudden deterioration began to gather pace”.

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Describing his symptoms as being "clammy" with a "tightness in my chest", and having "pins and needles in my left arm", the news of Alex Salmond's fatal heart attack prompted Clarkson to seek medical attention.

Clarkson went to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford via an ambulance, where doctors conducted an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests, and X-rays to exclude the possibility of a heart attack.

He said he then went to an “operating theatre”, after further checks, and doctors said he was perhaps “days away” from getting very ill.

Clarkson said: “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 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.

He 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.