Jeremy Clarkson, 61, fears he’ll die this YEAR as ‘everyone he knows’ and his dad died at the same age
JEREMY Clarkson is not so sure he'll make it to his 62nd birthday after his dad died at the same age he is now.
The Grand Tour favourite is afraid he will die this year, but if he makes it to his next birthday he will be unstoppable.
"Everyone I know dies at 61. All my friends did, my dad did, that’s when you go. If I make it to 62, I’ll be here forever," he told .
"When dad died, I thought of him as an old man, but I don’t feel old."
Jeremy's dad, Eddie Clarkson, died in 1994 at age 61 and ran a manufacturing design business in the early 70s with his wife Susan.
The couple's claim to fame - other than being Jeremy's parents - was that they created the first Paddington toy bear that wore wellies.
Jeremy also revealed he found ageing to be odd because he still felt like a teenager, even though that's not reality.
"When I see myself on screen I think, 'Who’s that?' I always expect a 19-year-old to be looking back at me. But old people don’t look like we think they should," he explained.
"When my generation is in old people’s homes we’re not going to be dancing to Vera Lynn, it’ll be White Riot by The Clash."
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host almost didn't see his 61st birthday after catching the coronavirus and thinking he would 'die alone'.
After Googling his symptoms around Christmas last year, Jeremy got tested for coronavirus - and was warned he may end up in hospital.
Writing for , the TV favourite said: "The doctor was very clear; I’d feel under the weather for between five and 14 days and then I’d either get better or I’d have to go to hospital.
"Where, because I am 60 and fat, and because I’ve smoked half a million cigarettes and had double pneumonia, I’d probably die, on my own, in a lonely plastic tent."
Jeremy went on to share his symptoms, which included waking in a cold sweat, and a persistant dry cough.
He went into isolation, casually expaining: "I took myself to bed with the new Don Winslow book and a bag of kale to wait for the Grim Reaper to pop his head round the door."
Jeremy concluded: "I'm not going to lie - it was quite scary."
The star then faced another loss this year after Top Gear's Sabine Schmitz - widely known as Queen of the Ring - lost a three year battle with cancer in April.
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Jeremy returned to the show in a special tribute episode to Sabine where he opened up about the world famous female racing car driver amid various throwback clips.
He said: “She was fun and she saw driving a car as a fun thing to do and driving it quickly an even more fun thing to do. I think that came out.'
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“When she walked into a room it was as though everything just got a bit brighter and a bit louder.
“She was turning everything up on your television until it was just [he shakes] just like that – and that's what five minutes with Sabine was like.”