UK - Tornado, Top Gear and the wedding

[John Ashworth]

The "steam engine" to which the Daily Mail refers (with the British media's usual ignorance of any details relating to railways) is, of course, Tornado, which was on a high-speed run from London to Glasgow in a race with a 1940s Jaguar and a 1957 motor bike for the well-known BBC TV motoring programme Top Gear. Jeremy Clarkson was apparently on the footplate for eight hours for the 390 mile journey.

From choo-choo to bridal train: A soot-covered Jeremy Clarkson gatecrashes Scottish wedding

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:42 AM on 16th May 2009


A soot-covered train driver in overalls is the last person a bride dressed in white would want gatecrashing her wedding.

But when the 'driver' in question is Jeremy Clarkson, it appeared one pair of newlyweds were happy to celebrate their marital bliss with the filthy presenter.

Clarkson, who had just been driving a steam engine for the latest series of Top Gear, was arriving back at Edinburgh's plush Balmoral Hotel for a bath, when he bumped into bride and groom Angela and Mark McCole.

The presenter, 49, and his much cleaner co-host James May, 46, congratulated the happy couple and posed for photographs with them on the steps of the five-star hotel.

Despite his own grubby appearance in soot-covered overalls, cheeky Clarkson told the groom to 'lose the beard'.

The thrilled newlyweds described meeting Clarkson and May as 'the icing on the cake' of their special day.

Angela, 29, said: 'The last person I expected to see on my wedding day was Jeremy Clarkson.

'We spotted him and James May as we were making our grand entrance and it caused quite a stir.'

Clarkson, May and co-presenter Richard Hammond - who didn't make it in time to greet the newlyweds - had been racing from London to Edinburgh for the new series of Top Gear.

May drove a 1940s Jaguar, Clarkson rode a steam train, while Hammond was left with a 1957 Vincent motorbike.

Angela added: 'Jeremy Clarkson had been on a steam train, which was why he was in a boiler suit and had a black face.

'James May had travelled up in a classic car and Richard Hammond had broken down somewhere.

'They were having a few beers in the Balmoral and joined us for a few photos.'

As the couple posed for photos with Clarkson and May, they were joined by a horde of fans, with some even filming footage of the bizarre meeting and uploading it on to YouTube.

The new series of Top Gear starts on BBC2 on June 21.

[Gabor Kovacs]

I suppose John; this may have brought back some good memories of your wedding at FotR, when you and Jane tied the “knot”, all be it on a slightly different note!

[John Ashworth]

Yes, indeed, Gabor, although I have to say that the footplate crew of you and Cliff managed to stay a lot cleaner than Jeremy Clarkson in these photos!

[Gabor Kovacs]

Yes, I agree! I had a look at the pictures, the video clip attached to the article on the Daily Mail news website, and my sum conclusion is that Jeremy Clarkson must have told by the footplate crew to start trimming the coal forward in the tender once the front half of the coal supply in the tender had disappeared into the firebox! It’s the only way I can see how Jeremy Clarkson got so dirty.

With the recent Geoff Cooks' tour group; two of the guys that visited the shed with Geoff that Friday afternoon, where footplate staff members of one of the many active British preservation groups (damn! - I just can't remember which group they were footplate staff members of), and they were very surprised at the sight that I boiled water in the firebox of 3117, to make billy-can full of freshly made tea to share with them!
One of the blokes even took a few pictures while our rather rusty looking boiling-can was place into, and then removed, from the firebox after the water had boiled. Then a few more shutter clicks followed as I poured the boiling water into my billy-can, which already had already 2 tea-bags and some suger in it!

Did or do the British based steam footplate staff every use their footplate buckets for a wash basin, like we do here in SA? Maybe we at FotR need to show them all a few tricks that we use on the footplate, and also how we try and keep clean, and keep the footplate clean on a steam locomotive, while enroute!

[John Ashworth]

Jeremy Clarkson is a pretty controversial and outspoken larger-than-life character, and it wouldn't surprise me if the footplate crew didn't go out of their way to, let's say diplomatically, show him the dirtier and more strenuous side of life on the footplate!

[Derek Walker]

Did or do the British based steam footplate staff every use their footplate buckets for a wash basin, like we do here in SA? Maybe we at FotR need to show them all a few tricks that we use on the footplate, and also how we try and keep clean, and keep the footplate clean on a steam locomotive, while enroute!

Problably some EU regulation that precludes the use of steam engines as tea boiling instruments, or that your billy must be ISO9002 approved and conforming to UL standards.