Jonny Smith | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | British |
Occupations | |
Television | Fifth Gear |
Website | https://thelatebrakeshow.com/ |
Jonathan Charles Smith (born 24 February 1979) is a motoring journalist and television presenter. He was one of the presenters on Channel 5 motoring programme Fifth Gear and has since presented Mud, Sweat & Gears for BBC America and Motorheads for BBC Worldwide. Smith first worked for a custom and vintage VW magazine, becoming the editor after three years. He went on to work for magazine publisher EMAP, where he wrote features for magazines such as Max Power , Car magazine, Revs and Classic Cars. Smith appeared on Sky One's Movies' Greatest Cars in 2005, where he was noticed by North One Television, producers of Fifth Gear , and subsequently asked to attend a screen test. [1] Smith hosted his own engineering-based documentary television series, Industrial Junkie . [2] In March 2014, he began filming a series with Tom Ford called Mud, Sweat & Gears : this was broadcast on BBC America during February and March 2015.
He is a former presenter of the web TV and podcast show Fully Charged which he presented until January 2020. [3] Smith now creates videos for his YouTube channel, The Late Brake Show, which he describes as "a broad church of automotive appreciation". [4]
Despite no longer having a televisual career, Smith remains a motoring journalist, enjoying classic and custom cars as a hobby. Having owned over 130 cars, he built a classic electric hot rod called 'Jonny's Flux Capacitor' [5] which for a time claimed to be the world's quickest street legal EV. His other cars include a '68 Dodge Charger, a modified, re-engined, Honda VTEC powered Austin Allegro, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS, a Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle (his first car, owned since he took his driving test at 17). [6] [7] Smith is the father of Kitty-Mae Smith (14) and Wesson Smith (12) though he is no longer in a relationship with their mother.
Timothy Richard "Tiff" Needell is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of Lovecars, and formerly served as co-presenter of Top Gear and Fifth Gear.
Jason Andrew Dawe is an English journalist and television presenter. Brought up in Cornwall, Dawe worked at car dealerships and as a motoring industry trainer; he had been a long-time columnist of the motoring section of The Sunday Times. He also presented the first series of the rebooted Top Gear on BBC Two alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.
Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short decklid, a wide range of options to individualize each car and use of mass-produced parts shared with other models. The popularity of pony cars is largely due to the launch of the Ford Mustang in 1964.
Quentin Willson is an English television presenter and producer, motoring journalist, author and former car dealer. He was a presenter of the motoring programmes Britain's Worst Driver, Fifth Gear, and the original incarnation of Top Gear.
Fifth Gear is a British motoring television magazine series which has been broadcast since 2002. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011, it began as a continuation of the original version of the BBC show Top Gear, which ran from 1977 until being cancelled in 2001. It moved to the Discovery Channel in 2012, then in 2015 to History; since 2018 it has been broadcast on Quest. Following a 2021 relaunch, with an emphasis on electric cars, it has been branded as Fifth Gear Recharged. The show is currently presented by Vicki Butler-Henderson, Sid North, Karun Chandhok and Jason Plato with Grace Webb and engineer Jimmy de Ville also involved in reports. Its former presenters include Quentin Willson, Adrian Simpson, Rory Reid, Jonny Smith, former racing driver Tiff Needell and Car SOS host Tim Shaw.
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, also referred to as Factory Zero and GM Poletown, is a General Motors (GM) automobile assembly plant straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles (five km) from GM's corporate headquarters.
Max Power was a British magazine, based in Peterborough, focusing on the performance-tuning and car market.
Driven is a motoring television programme launched by Channel 4 in 1998 as a rival to the successful and long-running BBC series Top Gear. It last aired new episodes in 2002.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine programme created by the BBC that aired on BBC Two between 22 April 1977 and 17 December 2001. The programme focused on a range of motoring topics, the most common being car reviews, road safety and consumer advice. Originally presented by Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne, the show saw a range of different presenters and reporters front the programme's half-hourly slots, including Noel Edmonds, Jeremy Clarkson, Tiff Needell, William Woollard and Quentin Willson. The programme proved popular during the late 80s and early 90s, and launched a number of spin-offs, including its own magazine entitled Top Gear Magazine.
Tom Ford is a British motoring journalist and television presenter. He was the co-host of Five motoring television series Fifth Gear from 2002 until 2009. In 2017, he began presenting Top Gear America for BBC America.
Edward John China is an English television presenter, mechanic, motor specialist and inventor, best known as being presenter and mechanic on Discovery Channel's television show Wheeler Dealers. He has also appeared on Top Gear, Auto Trader, Scrapheap Challenge and Fifth Gear.
Series 8 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two during 2006, consisting of eight episodes that were aired between 7 May and 30 July; because of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the series took a month-long hiatus between its fifth and sixth episodes. This series saw the programme receive a brand new opening title sequence, a brand new studio, and a brand new car for the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car". Throughout the series, the show also saw Richard Hammond bringing along one of his dogs for episodes, which would have small appearances in films in the following series.
Series 10 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two during 2007, consisting of ten episodes that were aired between 7 October and 23 December. This series saw the props used on the programme being changed from car-based seating and a wide-screen monitor in the main set space, to wingback chairs and an old TV screen; although attributed to a fire caused by Top Gear's rival programme, it later was exposed as a publicity stunt, with the props replaced the following series. This series' highlights included the presenters crossing Botswana on a road trip, a race between a car and a fighter jet, fording amphibious cars across the English Channel, and competing in a 24-hour endurance race using home-made bio-diesel.
Top Gear Australia is an Australian motoring reality television series, based on the British BBC series Top Gear. The programme first premiered on SBS One on 29 September 2008. A second season was ordered following the high ratings for the premiere episode and positive comments from advertisers, and the second season began broadcasting from 11 May 2009. After acquiring the rights to broadcast the UK version in 2009, the Nine Network started airing their own version of Top Gear Australia in September 2010. Top Gear Australia returned for a fourth season in 2011. The show was cancelled on 28 April 2012 due to declining ratings. An eight part series returned in 2024 on Paramount+ with new hosts.
Series 15 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two and BBC HD during 2010, consisting of six episodes that were aired between 27 June and 1 August; the new series was promoted with a special trailer that made use of a clip published on YouTube. This series saw the replacement of the Chevrolet Lacetti by the Kia Cee'd as the Reasonably Priced Car.
Fully Charged is a YouTube channel, podcast, website, and live event focusing on electric vehicles and renewable energy founded by writer, broadcaster and actor Robert Llewellyn. Llewellyn would later become Joint CEO of Fully Charged with Dan Caesar and Caesar also presents many of the episodes of the show. They are both joined by many regular presenters along with guest presenters from many different countries. The channel has covered a wide range of topics around electric vehicles including electric cars, electric bikes, electric aircraft, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Fully Charged also covers a wide range of renewable energy topics including solar power, wind power, UK energy policy, cycling infrastructure, air pollution and air pollution monitoring.
Victoria Jemma Butler-Henderson is a British racing driver, former presenter of Top Gear and current presenter of Fifth Gear.
Mud, Sweat & Gears is a reality television series that premiered on 26 January 2015 on BBC America in the U.S. and BBC Brit internationally. The hosts, Tom Ford and Jonny Smith, and two teams of two car enthusiasts have a day to perform car stunts in California.
Rory Reid is an English television presenter and journalist. He specialises in motoring and technology and is known for hosting Top Gear, Extra Gear, Gadget Geeks and several web series. Since 2019 he has served as Director of YouTube content at Auto Trader, where he also presents on the channel. Since 2021 he presents Fifth Gear Recharged on Discovery+ and Quest. He has been editor-in-chief for the website Recombu and has worked on BBC Radio 5 Live's Saturday Edition as a technology journalist.
Magalie Debellis is an artist and industrial designer who works for General Motors as the manager of Cadillac Advanced Design, where she led the design teams responsible for the Cadillac Lyriq and Celestiq.