Quentin Willson | |
|---|---|
 Willson refueling a Hyundai ix35 | |
| Born | 23 July 1957 Leicester, England |
| Occupation(s) | Television presenter, Author, Journalist, Broadcaster |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | www |
Quentin Willson (born 23 July 1957) 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 .
Willson, a twin, [1] is the son of Professor Bernard Willson, [2] latterly the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at University of Leicester, who was the first code breaker at Bletchley Park to decode the Italian Navy Hagelin C-36 code machine. [3]
Willson joined the BBC in 1991 to co-host the original version of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson. Until the original format's cancellation in 2001, he appeared every week on the programme, typically as an expert on used cars.
Willson later presented his own produced classic car series The Car's the Star , along with the first property show to talk about money, All The Right Moves, both for the BBC.
After Top Gear's cancellation, he left the BBC to present Channel 5's rival motoring programme, Fifth Gear . When Top Gear was relaunched, Willson said of Clarkson that "It's a compliment that the BBC are so afraid of losing ratings to us, they've lured my old co-host out of semi-retirement." [4]
While at Channel 5, Willson created the Britain's Worst Driver format. A raft of similar shows followed, including Britain's Worst DIYer, "Worst Farmer", Worst Mother in Law, Worst Husband, Worst Teenager, Worst Builder, Worst Zookeeper, and Worst FIFA 2002 Player. After Willson's appearances on Britain’s Worst series, comedian Harry Hill dressed up as him and announced: "I used to be on Top Gear, now I’m on Channel 5. Welcome to Britain’s Worst Career Move". [5] Willson stopped presenting Fifth Gear in 2005.
Willson also participated in the second series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, but ignominiously got the lowest score ever on the show with his one and only dance before being voted off. Willson still holds the record for lowest score ever on Strictly with a grand total of eight out of a possible 40 points. Judge Craig Revel Horwood described Willson as "Britain's Worst Dancer". [6]
On 12 January 2009, and again on 4 December 2010, he appeared on BBC Breakfast giving advice on snow driving and which cars are better suited. On 5 April 2012, he once again appeared on BBC Breakfast talking about the Highway Code. [7] He also regularly featured on the ITV breakfast show Daybreak , when there were motoring related features.
In 2015, Willson returned to Channel 5 to host The Classic Car Show.
In the 1990s, both in print and on television, Willson highlighted the artificially higher prices of new cars in the UK compared to Europe, campaigning for price parity for UK buyers. He is widely credited for drawing attention to uncompetitive pricing by the car makers which prompted the European Commission to take action and use block exemption regulations to force the industry to reduce UK list prices on new passenger cars. [8]
From early 2011 until 2021, Willson was the national spokesman for FairFuelUK campaigning for lower government fuel duty. [9] From March 2011, Willson and the FairFuelUK Team successfully pressured the UK government to defer 11p of duty rises [ citation needed ], reducing the overall tax take by £5.5 billion in fuel duty. His campaigning appeared on BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live, Newsnight, Channel 5 News, Channel 4 News, The Sun, Times, Telegraph, Mail and other national newspapers. The House of Commons Back Bench Committee allowed Willson to be present in the House at a Commons fuel duty debate in 2011. [9]
Fair Fuel UK is funded by two industry associations: the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association. Its previous funders have included the RAC, the Association of Pallet Networks and UKLPG, among others. [10]
In September 2021 Willson resigned from Fair Fuel UK because he was “unhappy with the direction the lobby group was going and their lack of environmental sensibilities”. [11]
In 2004, Willson was awarded Motoring Writer of the Year. He writes regularly for The Sunday Mirror and has also written ten books.
Quentin Willson is a consultant to many organisations and companies including the car warranty company Warrantywise. [12] Willson is also a former consultant to BP, [13] [14] BSI (British Safety Institute) and Castrol Oil in 2008–10. [15] He is also a regular face on the conference and after dinner speaking circuit. [16] Quentin has been at the forefront of raising awareness about the dangers of buying stolen cars, [17] fronting the 'Real or Rogue' campaign in March 2009. He also appears in promotional videos on the website for Store First, a self-storage company seeking investors but currently the subject of a BBC investigation into concerns expressed by those investors. [18] [19]
| Year | Title | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Top Gear – Classic Cars | VHS |
| 1999 | Project Healey 3000 | VHS |
| 2009 | Project Healey 3000 | DVD |
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English television presenter, journalist, writer and farmer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes Top Gear and The Grand Tour alongside Richard Hammond and James May. He also currently writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun. Clarkson hosts the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and co-hosts the reality show Clarkson's Farm.
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.
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Richard Mark Hammond is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James May. From 2016 to 2024, the trio presented Amazon Prime Video's The Grand Tour.
The Stig is a character from the British motoring television show Top Gear. Created by former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, the character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, with the running joke that nobody knows who or what is inside the Stig's racing suit. The Stig's primary role is setting lap times for cars tested on the show. Previously, he would also instruct celebrity guests, off-camera, for the show's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment.
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.
Top Gear is a British automobile magazine, owned by BBC Worldwide, and published under contract by Immediate Media Company. It is named after the BBC's Top Gear television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published monthly at a price of £5.99. As of December 2022, there have been a total of 360 issues published in the UK. The major presenters of the rebooted television series — Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May — were regular contributors, along with the series' production staff. "Tame racing driver" The Stig also regularly features in their car tests, though only communicates his thoughts and feelings through the articles of others. It is Britain's leading general interest car magazine in sales terms, with over 150,000 copies distributed each month in 2012, a drop of 50,000 from 2007. Previous columnists have included former Top Gear presenters Quentin Willson, Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson.
Britain's Worst Driver was a British television series created and hosted by ex-Top Gear host Quentin Willson made by Mentorn airing between 2002 and 2005 on Five. Each series, eight drivers were nominated by friends and family as being 'Britain's Worst Driver' and on the show had the opportunity to "earn back" their driving licences by performing various driving challenges, judged by a panel of industry experts including a motor accident investigator, a behavioural psychologist, a chief executive of a motor insurance group, and presenter and motoring journalist Vicki Butler-Henderson. The driver who performed the worst over the course of the series was awarded Britain's Worst Driver.
Jon Bentley is a British journalist and television presenter. He was educated at Millfield in Street, Somerset from 1972 to 1978 and at Oriel College in Oxford from 1979 to 1982, where he studied geography.
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.
Tony Mason is a British former rally co-driver and television presenter. In 1972, he navigated Roger Clark to victory in the RAC Rally and the team also finished second in the event twice in 1974 and 1975, the only British crew to do so in a period spanning 35 years. He has also competed as a driver himself, and was recently co-driver for Finnish driver Hannu Mikkola with whom he competed for Ford in a recent Classic Rally in New Zealand.
Steve Berry is a British media presenter, best known as a member of the presenting team for the BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear from 1993 to 1999, where he reviewed motorcycles and made features relating to them.
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.
Top Gear is an American motoring television series, based on the BBC series of the same name. The show's presenters were professional racing driver Tanner Foust, actor and comedian Adam Ferrara, and automotive and racing analyst Rutledge Wood. As with the original British version, the show has its own version of The Stig, an anonymous racing driver, and a celebrity guest is featured each week for the first two seasons. The show premiered on November 21, 2010, on History.
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.
Series 12 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two during 2008, consisting of seven episodes that were aired between 2 November and 14 December. This series' highlights included the presenters tackling the task of driving lorries, investigating car-tuning, a fuel-economy race, the first power test by James May, and a review of cars made during the Cold War era. After the series concluded, a feature-length special for Christmas, titled Top Gear: Vietnam Special, was aired on 28 December 2008, focusing on the presenters travelling across Vietnam with motorcycles.
Top Gear Australia: Ashes Special is a special episode of the motoring series Top Gear Australia and Top Gear. It is part of the Channel Nine revamp of Top Gear Australia, which sees Australian hosts Ewen Page, Steve Pizzati and Shane Jacobson, take on the hosts of Top Gear, James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson in a series of challenges involving the best and worst of British motoring, as well as a rally, and driving through a safari park. Other challenges include a drag race between a Holden VE Commodore ute and a standard looking Ford Transit van customised with a Jaguar XJ220 engine, and the double car race seen in Series 11 of Top Gear UK. An edited version of the Ashes Special was shown in the UK on 30 January 2011 as part of Series 16, Episode 2 of Top Gear UK.
Victoria Jemma Butler-Henderson is a British racing driver, former presenter of Top Gear and current presenter of Fifth Gear.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine and currently inactive entertainment television programme. It is a revival devised by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman of the 1977–2001 show of the same name for the BBC, and premiered on 20 October 2002. The programme focuses on the examination and reviewing of motor vehicles, primarily cars, though this was expanded upon after the broadcast of its earlier series to incorporate films featuring motoring-based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme. The programme drew acclaim for its visual and presentation style since its launch, which focused on being generally entertaining to viewers, as well as criticism over the controversial nature of its content. The show was also praised for its occasionally controversial humour and lore existing in not just the automotive community but in the form of internet memes and jokes. The programme was aired on BBC Two until it was moved to BBC One for its twenty-ninth series in 2020.
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