Jeremy Clarkson reveals cancer scare before alleged attack on Top Gear producer

Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that doctors told him that he "probably" had cancer before he attacked a producer of the show.

The 55-year-old said in his Sunday Times column, the "fracas" came on his "most stressful day… in 27 years at the BBC", but added that other people "manage to cope better than I did".

The sacked presenter confirmed in the paper that he later got the all-clear over a lump on his tongue.

Clarkson lost his job as in March over what the BBC described as an "unprovoked physical attack" on producer Oisin Tymon.

Explaining his decision after an investigation, BBC director-general Tony Hall said, "a line has been crossed" when Clarkson assaulted the producer and "there cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another".

Earlier this month, North Yorkshire Police confirmed that following an investigation into the incident, Clarkson would not face any further police action.

Presenter devastated

Clarkson expressed his passion for presenting the show, especially after the break-up of his marriage and the death of his mother, and the devastation he felt after learning that his contract would be terminated.

"It was an all-consuming entity, a many-tentacled global monster that was dysfunctional and awkward and mad but I loved it with a passion. I loved it like my own child," he wrote.

"I felt sick because after I'd lost my home and my mother, I'd thrown myself even more vigorously into my job and now, idiotically, I'd managed to lose that too."

He confirmed in the paper that her had considered not returning to TV, but now he was planning to "pick up the pieces" and do another car show – although he did not know whether he would be working with his former Top Gear co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond.

Top Gear II

He said: "I have lost my baby, but I shall create another.

"I don't know who the other parent will be or what the baby will look like, but I cannot sit around any more organising my photograph album.

"Let's stop being silly and pick up the pieces and start again… I just know I'm going to do another car show."

Clarkson decided to withdraw from a planned appearance hosting BBC satirical show Have I Got News For You, which was scheduled to be filmed next week, and aired a day later. It would have been his first BBC appearance since the incident which led to his exit.