Jeremy Clarkson documentary tells story behind moment he punched Piers Morgan three times
Morgan later revealed that his head was permanently scarred from the confrontation, as Clarkson had been wearing a ring when he attacked him
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Your support makes all the difference.A new Channel 5 documentary, Jeremy Clarkson: King of Controversy, has told the story of how Clarkson ended up punching Piers Morgan at an awards show in 2004.
The programme, which aired on Sunday night (29 January), was released in the wake of Clarkson’s scathing column about Meghan Markle, which led to widespread condemnation and the formerTop Gear presenter apologising.
The column quickly became the most complained-about article in history at Ipso (Independent Press Standards Organisation).
Channel 5’s documentary demonstrates how the TV personality, 62, has often made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
It delves into the story of how Clarkson physically attacked Morgan at the 2004 British Press Awards in London.
In the programme, Ken Gibson, former motoring editor at The Sun, recalled being at the awards ceremony with Clarkson, which Morgan was attending as the then editor of The Mirror.
Gibson explained that The Mirror had published some stories “which had clearly caused a great deal of anguish among the Clarkson family”.
He said: “Jeremy went off to go to the loo, and I was walking just behind him, and then he bumped into Piers.
“Jeremy told Piers not to write about his family. He didn’t mind being criticised about work, or anything else. Piers more or less said that comes with the territory. They then followed a little session of finger prodding of each other’s chests, where they were asking, ‘What are you going to do about it?’”
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Archival footage of an interview between Clarkson and Michael Parkinson was then shown, in which Clarkson described how he’d punched Morgan, saying that it was the first time he had “ever hit anybody ever” and showing off his “busted” finger.
Morgan was then shown speaking at an Oxford Union Society talk in 2015, where he said: “My exact words when the third blow crunched into my head were, ‘Is that it? My three-year-old hits me harder than that.’”
Gibson said that, in the moment, he tried to deescalate the situation, telling the pair: “See how many cameras there are? See how many journalists? You’re going to end up on the front pages for all of the reasons. You need to grow up and just go back to your seats now and sit down.”
The rivals later said they had made up after going to a pub and getting “absolutely wrecked” together. Morgan revealed in 2015 that his head was permanently scarred from the confrontation as Clarkson had been wearing a ring when he punched him.