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James May Quotes
James May Quotes
James May
English
Journalist
Born:
Jan 16
,
1963
Because
Car
Life
Me
Think
You
Related authors:
Alexa Chung
Charles Edward Montague
Cyril Connolly
Daniel Defoe
David Frost
Laurie Graham
Peter Hitchens
Richard Quest
I hate the idea of people nicking my stuff, but in all honesty, I'm pretty well off. If a genuinely desperate man on his last gasp nicks my coat from the pub on a freezing night, well, he's welcome to it. It'll change his life. Mine's only inconvenienced by having to buy another one.
James May
Life
Buy
Man
Change
Welcome
Honesty
Hate
People
Desperate
Mine
Pretty
Having
Only
He
Idea
Stuff
Freezing
Well
Another
Genuinely
His
Off
Pub
Coat
Last
Night
The decline of practical skills, some of them very day-to-day, among a generation of British men is very worrying. They can't put up a shelf, wire a plug, countersink a screw, iron a shirt. They believe it's endearing and cute to be useless, whereas I think it's boring, and everyone's getting sick of it.
James May
Generation
Men
Cute
Believe
Think
Sick
Everyone
Worrying
Plug
Boring
Some
Wire
Put
Day-To-Day
Practical
Shelf
Up
Very
Shirt
Iron
Endearing
Getting
Whereas
Screw
Them
Decline
Skills
Useless
Among
British
I don't have a worry about women because I keep reading that not only are they better at school, they are now better at parking, better at navigating... we know that women are good at everything.
James May
Good
Women
Better
School
Reading
Everything
Worry
About
Only
Parking
Know
Because
Women Are
Keep
Now
The three of us may be reunited on screen, we may go our separate ways, or we may disappear from the television altogether and each assume a place, alone, in the corner of a pub where any unsuspecting passing drinker who strays into an exclusion zone studiously avoided by the locals will be subjected to a predictable 'I used to be on TV' routine.
James May
Alone
Will
Three
Assume
Corner
Our
On-Screen
Ways
Television
TV
Drinker
Disappear
Exclusion
Reunited
Altogether
Passing
Go
Subjected
Any
May
Screen
Where
Predictable
Place
Pub
Us
Separate
Used
Avoided
Who
Each
Routine
Zone
I remember thinking, at the end of 2015 on New Year's Eve, I'm actually quite glad to see the back of that one. 2015 was a bit complicated and had some very traumatic bits in it.
James May
Complicated
Remember
Year
Thinking
Back
Bit
Bits
See
Some
Glad
Had
New
End
Very
Quite
Eve
Traumatic
Actually
There's a lot of politics in television and a lot of in-fighting and all that sort of stuff, but in the end, we are purveyors of entertainment. Viewers are not really bogged down in who's doing what and who hates who and who's doing best in the ratings. They watch television to be entertained.
James May
Politics
Best
Entertainment
Down
Television
Entertained
Hates
Ratings
Stuff
Sort
Doing
Lot
End
In The End
Really
Viewers
Bogged
Who
Watch
I was a car journalist when I started on 'Top Gear.' It was all about cars. And then it all spun out of all control, and we turned into figures of ridicule to keep the viewers happy. It's a fair deal, I suppose.
James May
Happy
Car
Journalist
Control
Top
Out
Gear
About
Fair
Suppose
Deal
Spun
Turned
Then
Viewers
Figures
Ridicule
Keep
Started
I do worry about breaking things - things that don't belong to me.
James May
Me
Worry
About
Breaking
Things
Belong
They're pretty accurate, the clocks in mobile phones.
James May
Phones
Pretty
Mobile
Mobile Phones
Clocks
Accurate
Despite some of the stories that have gone around, I've never had a big, flouncey strop about how much I'm paid. Considering I have a pretty interesting life out of making telly, I'm really paid quite well for it. So I'm not complaining.
James May
Life
Complaining
Big
Gone
Despite
Considering
Out
Telly
Some
Pretty
About
Never
Had
Well
Around
How
Making
How Much
Quite
Stories
Interesting
Interesting Life
Much
Really
Paid
I don't have any quarrel with the BBC.
James May
Quarrel
Any
I'm conflicted because I like being in deserts. I find them sort of cleansing, but there's another part of me that hates dust. And I particularly hate dust in cars, so it's a huge conflict going on there.
James May
Me
Conflict
Hate
Car
Dust
Find
Hates
Part
Cleansing
Like
Particularly
Sort
Another
Because
Huge
Going
Being
Them
Deserts
I got into it just thinking, 'Oh, television, maybe I'll have a go at that.' I could've never imagined that it would get to this.
James May
Thinking
Television
Would
Never
Got
Go
Get
Maybe
Oh
Just
Imagined
Jeremy Clarkson wants to become a farmer - he's bought a field - Hammond wants to open a supermarket, and I'd like to spend my days owning a shoe shop.
James May
Become
Field
Spend
Supermarket
Open
He
Bought
Days
Like
Shoe
Shop
Owning
Wants
Farmer
Jeremy
In 'Top Gear,' everything goes wrong because you have Jeremy Clarkson, so any practical activity ends in a pile of bits.
James May
You
Everything
Top
Bits
Gear
Wrong
Practical
Because
Pile
Goes
Any
Ends
Jeremy
Activity
In 1988, before I'd written a word for a car magazine or stood in front of a camera, I was a subeditor on 'The Engineer.'
James May
Word
Engineer
Car
Before
Magazine
Written
Camera
Front
Stood
All cars have a natural gait, a speed at which they're happiest. The Corniche is perfect at around 65-70mph. I did a ton in it once, which was completely horrible. Apparently, it'll reach 120mph, but not with me in it.
James May
Me
Natural
Car
Speed
Once
Horrible
Perfect
Reach
Around
Did
Which
Happiest
Gait
Apparently
Ton
There's this perception that I've got this huge collection of old cars. I don't.
James May
Old
Car
Perception
Collection
Got
Huge
There's a great deal of poetry in working out how things work, cutting bits of metal, trying to mend stuff.
James May
Work
Great
Mend
Great Deal
Bits
Out
Poetry
Stuff
Deal
Metal
How
Trying
Cutting
Working
Things
I felt that needed to be addressed: the idea that anything a man tries to do properly or thoroughly is dismissed as either metrosexual or OCD. But why can't you be practical and artistic at the same time, which was considered perfectly normal in the Renaissance?
James May
Time
You
Man
Considered
Thoroughly
Tries
Properly
Perfectly
Idea
Renaissance
Practical
Felt
Normal
Same
Artistic
Same Time
Anything
Either
Which
Dismissed
Why
Needed
I woke up one morning and realised that one of the problems with being a middle-aged man - of being a man in general - is the tyranny of fashion.
James May
Fashion
Morning
Man
Problems
Tyranny
One Morning
One Of The Problems
General
Woke
Up
Being
Being A Man
Middle-Aged
Middle-Aged Man
Realised
I can't stand the need to be fashionable.
James May
Stand
Fashionable
Need
I can't make a house homely. My house just looks like a garage or a shed. I'm not untidy, but it just looks so uninviting.
James May
Like
House
Looks
Make
Shed
Just
Garage
Homely
We've always liked the word 'chump', and it's quite nearly our initials - Clarkson, Hammond, and May Productions.
James May
Word
Our
Liked
Always
Quite
May
Productions
Initial
Nearly
I'm not beholden to anyone. I'm not waiting for a pension or a carriage clock.
James May
Waiting
Carriage
Pension
Clock
Beholden
Anyone
Not being part of the BBC with 'Top Gear' any more does pain me, because it's an organisation I approve of.
James May
Me
Pain
Top
Approve
Gear
More
Part
Because
Does
Any
Being
Organisation
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