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Isle of Man TT star Guy Martin has admitted that he did think about joining the new presenting team of Top Gear, but soon realised the job 'wasn't for him'.
When Jeremy Clarkson was controversially sacked from the show earlier this year, the rumour mill was on overdrive in regards to who would replace him.
It was eventually confirmed that long-time car geek and current Radio 2 DJ, Chris Evans would take over from the opinionated Clarkson, but the replacements for James May and Richard Hammond were still unknown.
Having enjoyed tonnes of success with his hit Channel 4 series ‘Speed’, Martin was in the bookies’ running to join the show from the off.
When asked about the rumours earlier this year, he responded: “I don’t think I’d be able to get the time off work! I don’t want to try and be the man who replaced Jeremy Clarkson, but never say never.”
Now, in an article in the Sunday Times (taken from his new book, ‘When you dead, you dead’) Martin has admitted declining an approach for the Top Gear job and explained why the role wasn’t for him.
“Daft things started to happen when all the Jeremy Clarkson stuff kicked off and it became clear he was getting the boot from Top Gear,” wrote Martin.
Martin at last year's TT
“Loads of rumours started that I was going to replace him. It was all a load of rubbish at first – just bookies putting out odds to get gullible people to part with their money – but then Chris Evans got involved with Top Gear and Andy Spellman [Martin’s manager] got a call from some gadgie at the BBC saying that Evans wanted to talk to me and that I could do one show, all the shows, do what I wanted, as long as I was in Top Gear.
“I didn’t say no straight away, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew it wasn’t right for me. For one thing, if I did it, I’d always be compared with Clarkson… Another reason not to do it was because the BBC man said it was the biggest television show in the world.
“How many presenters would turn that down? Not many of them, but I did. I’m not being cocky but I can turn down the biggest TV show in the world because TV work is not my big picture. I sometimes whinge about the amount of attention I’m getting at the moment – imagine how bad it would be if I were on Top Gear? I couldn’t go and race a Harley-Davidson chopper at Dirt Quake on a quiet weekend, could I?
“Top Gear might pay squillions of pounds, but what do I want all that for? I can earn enough for the life I want fixing lorries and doing a few other bits and pieces.”
While Martin’s future racing plans are unconfirmed, his TV work is set to continue next year as he takes on the ‘Wall of Death’. He’ll also take part in the Triumph land speed record attempt originally scheduled for earlier this year.
Even more respect than before. I earn enough, it was just a way for the bookies to get people to part with their cash, but best of all, some gadgie from the BBC! Feet on the ground and happy with himself is the sign of a great bloke. Time for a cuppa!
“Top Gear might pay squillions of pounds, but what do I want all that for? I can earn enough for the life I want fixing lorries and doing a few other bits and pieces.”
So refreshing for anyone involved in tv to be so free of insecurity.
What else happened in August?
He seems a very grounded person.
With his casual use of disparaging language like "gadgie" and calling southerners "soft pooftahs", he'd have been the perfect replacement for Clackson.
You don't get to own the cars that Guy Martin owns by fixing a few lorries....
Elaborate.
[i]You don't get to own the cars that Guy Martin owns by fixing a few lorries.... [/i]
Racing on the roads in Ireland and living like a pauper got him his GT3. So I'm guessing other stuff came the same kinda way.
As usual, the kind of people you want to be role models, don't want the role cos they're too lacking in ego. So you get Clarkson types as your public role models instead!
And he hardly fixes 'a few trucks'. He works his bollocks off doing it.
So refreshing for[b] anyone[/b] involved in tv to be so free of insecurity.
all the people i know in TV are just normal people. sparks, runners, focus-pullers set-dressers etc. some of them even ride MTB’s
not everyone involved in TV is like clarkson
[url= http://m.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11556571 ]http://m.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11556571[/url]
...so free of insecurity
Hmm, not how I read it. I read a man not confident enough in his ability to co-host the biggest TV show in the World. Everything else he wrote is simply justifying that decision.
I like Guy Martin and I really enjoyed the Speed series, but I do think he would have been a bit too colloquial to be a hit on a Worldwide show like Top Gear, much as I would have loved to see him on it.
they would need subtitles for the worldwide syndication of the program to areas that don't have their own franchise. while his accent and colloquialisms may be endearing for some they would be incomprehensible for many.
You don't get to own the cars that Guy Martin owns by fixing a few lorries....
Read his book, that'll fill in the blanks about his finances for you 🙄
You don't get to own the cars that Guy Martin owns by fixing a few lorries...
Tv work pays quite well, you know...
Guy M would be dreadful working to a script. Or trying to write one.
Nothing at all wrong with knowing your own limits.
His first book was really interesting, if not the greatest work of literature.
Despite all the nay-sayers, I don't think the Guy Martin you see on the TV - like him or not - is far removed from the real person. He seems to come across as a guy that fixes trucks to pay his living expenses, races and does TV for the hell of it when he can and to pay for his toys.
Can you have "life envy"?
I agree that he wouldn't have quite right as the presenter but I would like to see him on there occasionally, perhaps with a motorbike spot or star in the rubbish car.
I read a man not confident enough in his ability to co-host the biggest TV show in the World.
I don't think confidence has anything to do with it, he's obviously a person that enjoys a certain amount of anonymity in his life and that would be impossible if he'd taken that job. Also some people are happy doing jobs they enjoy that may be slightly below their ability level well rather than taking on something they could probably do but would end pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and not enjoying.
I've got a job that I really enjoy doing but I know its frustrated one of my managers before that I have no desire to progress within the company. As long as I can do my current job well, pay the bills, keep a roof over our head, buy food & clothes for my daughter and have a bit of spare money now and again for bikes & cars I'm happy 😀
casual use of disparaging language like "gadgie"
AIUI "gadgie" is an insult in, say, Scotland, but more a generic reference to a man or official in the North East. My assumption on reading that was that the latter is the more likely usage in North Lincs.
Happy to be corrected. And agree that "pooftah" as an insult has no place on TV. Or anywhwere else.
casual use of disparaging language like "gadgie"
Gage or Gadgie is a friendly term in the North.
I thought a gadgie was the gypsy term for someone who is not a gypsy.
I don’t want to try and be the man who replaced Jeremy Clarkson
This is where Evans is clever, when you hear him talking about the new show he's very clear that the new Top Gear will be nothing like the old one as they would constantly be compared. Apparently there wont really be a new Jeremy/Richard/James. Will be interesting to see just how different he can make things.
I thought a gadgie was the gypsy term for someone who is not a gypsy.
Close. In the NE it comes from the term meaning a stranger and was sometimes used for tinkers or gypsies because they were strangers.
Oh wait seems I was wrong. 😳
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/gadgie
Either way, it's pretty obvious which was the intended useage in this case.
Not even slightly offensive, even if you are really trying.
I thought a gadgie was the gypsy term for someone who is not a gypsy.
gorger is the term you are looking for.
[quote=nealglover ]Not even slightly offensive, even if you are really trying.
You seem to have forgotten how hard some people on here try!
[quote=MarkBrewer ]Also some people are happy doing jobs they enjoy that may be slightly below their ability level well rather than taking on something they could probably do but would end pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and not enjoying.
I've got a job that I really enjoy doing but I know its frustrated one of my managers before that I have no desire to progress within the company. As long as I can do my current job well, pay the bills, keep a roof over our head, buy food & clothes for my daughter and have a bit of spare money now and again for bikes & cars I'm happy
It's not even necessarily about not going for a job which is towards the limits of your comfort levels. Typically there seems to be a push towards promoting people not only beyond their level of competence, but into roles which are different to what they're good at. My old company did manage a slight recognition of this by providing roles which retained technical expertise at a senior level, but still left a yawning gap for those of us who didn't have world expert levels of specialist knowledge but very good at what we did on a technical level - still nowhere to go without getting into management which is something I don't like and I'm not good at. Yet it's frowned on for an intelligent graduate who's very technically competent to not have the ambition to want to "advance" into a role where I'd be incompetent.
Quite what anything has to do with his private earnings is beyond speculation and/or conjecture so I'd be inclined to leave that nugget with him TBH.
As for the Top Gear invite, well he's happy doing what he's happy doing, again whether he chooses what you think he should choose is just gossip mongering.
He said Nah, should be the end of it, No?
He said Nah, should be the end of it, No?
Maybe it would have been if someone hadn't written all about it in his book. 😉
Maybe Guy is smart enough to recognise a massive flop when he sees one.
The fact Chris Evans is at the helm is enough for any right-minded individual to kick it into touch. He has his own little niche carved out and I just couldn't see him being anyone's stooge.
This tale of him knocking back Top Gear just adds to the legend of Guy doesn't it?
The fact Chris Evans is at the helm is enough for any right-minded individual to kick it into touch.
Yeah, Chris Evans... What's he ever done that's been a success eh?
Bloody hopeless.
This tale of him knocking back Top Gear just adds to the legend of Guy doesn't it?
Well if you consider saying no to something making you a legend or that he's some sort of legend in the first place.
Yeah, Chris Evans... What's he ever done that's been a success eh?
Bloody hopeless.
We are talking about Top Gear here, not Don't forget your toothbrush. 😆
I thought the Top Gear format was very tired so I don't think anyone can zhush up a moribund show like that, not even Chris. A whole new show without the Top Gear branding might have been the way to go IMO. 😕
My point was more aimed at the fact that Guy is his own man and wouldn't like to be cast in the Hammond or May role.
Top Gear has gone through many format changes over the years, so don't see why it can't again.
Did no one else hear Guy Martin on Radio 2 with Chris Evans? He was shockingly bad.
Perhaps he is just aware of his own limits?
Gage or Gadgie is a friendly term in the North.
Which would be fine if the article wasn't published nationally. BTW. I'm not offended, I'm just pointing out that Clarkson got lambasted for saying "slope" which has no negative meaning in my part of the world yet people are more than happy to put Martin on a pedastal while using equally distasteful language, moreso to defend him labelling anyone who picks up on this as somekind of saddo. Don't forget there are some sections of society where **** is an acceptable term and others where it is not, it's not necessarily your place to call right or wrong.
I don't like the guy and am even more amused by the adulation that he gets on here. This is an opinion I'm entitled to.
I do have to say that his admition of mastubating fits with my opinion of him. 😀
Thanks OP.
I really could not see Martin being Evan's sidekick and streetcred. Which is the job he was offered. Easy to turn down.
Don't forget your toothbrush was Evan's vehicle ( 😉 ) Top Gear was very sucessfully transformed to become the Clarkson show. Evans has taken it on as "why not" and it all helps to further regenerate his career after all the boozing. Personally I have zero interest in watching the new version.
This is an opinion I'm entitled to.
There isn't anything nice I can say about people who use this phrase (and similar). So I'll just sit here quietly.
[quote=captainsasquatch ]
Gage or Gadgie is a friendly term in the North.
Which would be fine if the article wasn't published nationally. BTW. I'm not offended, I'm just pointing out that Clarkson got lambasted for saying "slope" which has no negative meaning in my part of the world yet people are more than happy to put Martin on a pedastal while using equally distasteful language
So he's supposed to change the language he naturally uses when being interviewed because it's offensive in a way he's not aware of? (I have to admit I'm struggling here, because I was totally unaware of any meaning of the term). You do realise that "slope" wasn't Clarkson's natural language in the same way, and that therefore the intent was totally different? It was the quite deliberate implications which got him into trouble, I'm not sure how it's possible to compare it with this.
I don't like the guy
Now there's a surprise.
So he's supposed to change the language he naturally uses when being interviewed because it's offensive in a way he's not aware of? (I have to admit I'm struggling here, because I was totally unaware of any meaning of the term). You do realise that "slope" wasn't Clarkson's natural language in the same way, and that therefore the intent was totally different?
Struggling to accept the argument here. 😆 Lacks any form of consistency.
Consistency in what sense? I'm suggesting that Guy was unaware of any negative connotations of the words he used, whilst Jezza was fully aware - was that not clear? I presume you are a Jezza fanboi?
In his book he reveals he has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. I understand that this affects his ability to understand the ramifications of his comments and to be pretty poor at self censorship.
whilst Jezza was fully aware
Says who?
Ofcom
This tale of him knocking back Top Gear just adds to the legend of Guy doesn't it?
Well if you consider saying no to something making you a legend or that he's some sort of legend in the first place.
Drac, I was thinking it's a better line for his memoirs. He'd rather fix a truck or go out and ride one his bikes than take on a highly paid job on a successful show.
If it does flop, he'll be forever linked with it so it's a no-brainer for him to do (host) other TV work that allow him more time to indulge in his other interests.
This story just adds to the perception that he is non-corporate and has a 'daft as a brush' persona. There's nowt daft about Guy Martin in terms of managing his brand IMO.
Ofcom
Politics.
I'm just pointing out that Clarkson got lambasted for saying "slope" which has no negative meaning in my part of the world
Which part of the world would that be ?
Ofcom
They didn't, they said as it was previously scripted they had the opportunity which they should have used to do further research.
Which part of the world would that be ?
The part of the world where it's a synonym for incline. How many people knew the negative meaning before Top Gear without having to resort to Google? I know I'd never heard of it. Propably because it's a more common term used in the USA than the UK.
You keep fawning over Martin, and I'll keep my opinion of him, OK?
You're entitled to your opinion, but don't expect your insinuations about GM to go unchallenged just because they're "your opinion". The only thing you're proving by comparing an off the cuff term used without any malice with a scripted deliberate comment by Jezza is your own prejudice.
[quote=mefty ]They didn't, they said as it was previously scripted they had the opportunity which they should have used to do further research.
They said that they were aware it was a slang term and not just referring to the angle of the bridge, whether you choose to believe them that they were unaware that a slang term had negative connotations (because of course most slang terms for other races don't have any negative connotations) is up to you.
The part of the world where it's a synonym for incline. How many people knew the negative meaning before Top Gear without having to resort to Google? I know I'd never heard of it. Propably because it's a more common term used in the USA than the UK.
Agree, I was entirely unaware of America until clarkson used racist language that came from there.
Never even heard of the place or anything about it. 🙄
Certainly never seen a film about Vietnam (or even heard of Vietnam actually) am I even spelling it right?
I'll google it.
You keep fawning over Martin, and I'll keep my opinion of him, OK?
I'm not a fan. I just don't talk crap trying to justify my opinion
You're entitled to your opinion, but don't expect your insinuations about GM to go unchallenged just because they're "your opinion". The only thing you're proving by comparing an off the cuff term used without any malice with a scripted deliberate comment by Jezza is your own prejudice.
I beg to differ, it's not an insinuation if he's actually said it, is it? You can't deny that he's said it. You can't defend it simply because it's OK in one part of the country and not in another.
What prejudice am I demonstrating? I think that Clarkson has crossed the line for using the language that he does (Ofcom disagree as negatively streotyping Mexicans is acceptable) as I feel about Martin.
The blind defence is amusing though and says a lot about the defenders. Have a good day.
EDIT:
I'm not a fan. I just don't talk crap trying to justify my opinion
Oh but you do talk some crap though. 😀
I do have to say that his admition of mastubating fits with my opinion of him.
And I'm sure you've never spent an evening buffing up the happy lamp, have you?
[quote=captainsasquatch ]I beg to differ, it's not an insinuation if he's actually said it, is it? You can't deny that he's said it.
I'm not denying he said it, I'm not suggesting that your insinuation is that he said it.
What prejudice am I demonstrating?
You appear to have already admitted to that 🙄
The blind defence is amusing though
eh? What blind defence?
FWIW I'm not particularly a GM fan either - I've seen some of his programmes, quite liked them, but not all, though I do vastly prefer him to certain old bigots I could name - simply challenging the bollox trying to compare two things which are in no way comparable. I'd suggest that the difference in our opinions of him isn't down to any unusual regard I have for him.
I was merely pointing out Ofcom didn't say what you said they said. If they had, you would have much more persuasive support for your opinion.
FWIW I'm not particularly a GM fan either, simply challenging the bollox trying to compare two things which are in no way comparable.
One is wrong because he should have known the negative conotations and the other is OK because it's a locally used term and isn't expected to know the wider reaching meaning?
[s]One is wrong because it was deliberately used as a slang term about a racial group attempting to make a funny, the other has a positive meaning in the context used, and is only offensive to those desperately seeking offence (you see, neal?)[/s]
actually I give up, you're either completely incapable of understanding the difference or trolling. Well done.
Oh goody, a pointless STW argument by people who appear to have too much time on their hands and unfettered access to a keyboard. Yawn.
BTW. I think Guy Martin is a self parody and as thin as a Rizla when it comes to real content. Superficially mildy interesting but ultimately dull. A perfect foil for the idiot that is Chris Evans. No insinuation just my view.
actually I give up, you're either completely incapable of understanding the difference or trolling. Well done.
Clearly I am. There is no place for derogatory language in this day and age, apparently some can get away with it and some can't.
There's nowt daft about Guy Martin in terms of managing his brand IMO.
only he doesn't manage his brand. Someone else does.
I find his whole, 'ooh I'm just a simple northern lorry mechanic me' shtick a bit contrived TBH.
He's ok but I don't really get all the massive man love for him on here.
grum - Member
I find his whole, 'ooh I'm just a simple northern lorry mechanic me' shtick a bit contrived TBH.He's ok but I don't really get all the massive man love for him on here.
Couldn't agree more.
Half the people I've grown up with think/speak/act just like him.
Once you see someone like that presenting a TV program, something seems slightly off. Funny the first time I saw one of his shows, but he's been on so much nowadays, it does just seem a bit contrived.
Half the people I've grown up with think/speak/act just like him.
Do they seem contrived too, or just the guy off the telly ?
😉
People on the telly should speak with a proper english accent. It just seems like he's a made up character.
shh neal, you're making david try too hard
People on the telly should speak with a proper english accent. It just seems like he's a made up character
Can't say I'm bothered him not doing it, great guy he may be, and as much as I'd like to watch his stuff, that horrendous accent makes my ears bleed, I've really tried a couple of times to watch one of his programmes to the end, but it's impossible.
Ha; I'm not trolling; I just find Guy Martin a bit too "close to home" to appeal as a TV presenter.
**** is an acceptable term
that's what his dog's called.
that's what his dog's called.
😆
Isn't guy Martin just this generations Fred dibnah?