Jeremy Clarkson has shared an insight into what happened when he was ‘days from death’ and had an emergency heart operation to save his life.

The TV presenter, 65, had two stents fitted during the surgery and was warned to change his diet by doctors after they discovered two vital arteries were blocked.

Jeremy was rushed to hospital when he began feeling symptoms of clamminess, chest тιԍнтness and pins and needles in his left arm.

Following the ‘sudden deterioration’ in his health, Jeremy was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he was operated on.

Speaking to the Sunday Times about the first signs that something wasn’t quite right, he recalled holidaying in the Seychelles shortly before the episode.

He said: ‘I always try and dive off a boat on every holiday because at my age you never know when your last dive is going to be, or your last anything, for that matter.’

Jeremy Clarkson has shared an insight into what happened when he was ‘days from death’ and had an emergency heart operation to save his life

The TV presenter, 65, had two stents fitted during the surgery and was warned to change his diet by doctors after they discovered two vital arteries were blocked

But realising midway through his last dive which turned into a belly flop, he realised his brain was writing cheques his body couldn’t cash.

He said: ‘When I finally reached the beach my lungs were full of water and I realised I can’t do it anymore.’

When he returned home to Chadlington, Oxfordshire, he began experiencing scary symptoms which resulted in his dash to hospital.

Following surgery to unblock his arteries, doctors told him to give up high fat and processed foods and exercise to lose weight.

Jeremy now plays pickleball to keep fit and has began following the ‘mono diet’.

This means he can eat meat – typically lamb and beef reared on his farm – but has to have it plain without any of the rich sauces he would have previously reached for. 

He said: ‘The way my doctor here described it, if it has one ingredient, like steak, or egg, it’s fine. But not supermarket lasagne.’ Jeremy has also cut back on alcohol but hasn’t given it up altogether. 

Jeremy tried Ozempic but it didn’t agree with him, before transitioning to Mounjaro which he revealed has helped curb his desire to binge eat.

Jeremy was rushed to hospital when he began feeling symptoms of clamminess, chest тιԍнтness and pins and needles in his left arm 

Following the ‘sudden deterioration’ in his health, Jeremy was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he was operated on (pictured with his partner Lisa Hogan)

Earlier this year Jeremy shared a health update after his major heart surgery while filming Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Jeremy commented on his new routine.

He said: ‘My phone flashed up this morning saying: ‘you are taking far fewer steps this week than last’.

‘I thought, “yeah I would be as I am sitting here”. It also says you are eating far fewer sausages.

‘I just sit here and eat celery. I am feeling better on it. I do feel very well.’

Jeremy first opened up about the experience in October last year after he had the life-saving operation.

The former Top Gear host revealed he started to feel unwell after swimming in the Indian Ocean and later found it difficult to climb a flight of stairs.

Jeremy wrote in his column in The Sunday Times how he felt ‘mostly ᴅᴇᴀᴅ’ after returning to the beach after the short swim.

He spent the rest of his break on a tropical island eating cheese and drinking wine. 

Jeremy has also cut back on alcohol but hasn’t given it up altogether

But Jeremy returned to Britain and a ‘sudden deterioration began to gather pace’ with him feeling the range of worrying symptoms previously mentioned.

When he was was loading 30 pigs onto a ‘slaughterhouse school bus’ that he noticed pins and needles in his arm.

He told The Sun at the time: ‘I’m very grateful to everyone who sent supportive messages but I’m fine. 

‘I just have to not do any manual labour or dishwasher emptying for the next four years. At least I think that’s what the doctor said.’

He then went to hospital, where a heart attack was ruled out after he had an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests and X-rays.

He said he then went to an operating theatre, after further checks, and doctors said he was perhaps ‘days away’ from death.

Once there he was fitted with a stent to his hold his arteries open, to improve blood flow to his heart and relieve his chest pain.

A stent is a wire mesh tube that props open arteries. To open the narrowed artery, the surgeon may perform what’s known as an angioplasty. 

Jeremy added that he now has a dietician who advised him to avoid processed foods and exercise more

While filming ITV show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Jeremy commented on his new routine

This involves making a small incision in a patient’s arm or leg, through which a wire with an attached deflated balloon is thread through up to the coronary arteries

Describing what he called the ‘wearisome effects of growing old’, he said: ‘It seems that of the arteries feeding my heart with nourishing blood, one was completely blocked and the second of three was heading that way.’

He said a stent, which can save lives and stop future heart attacks through improving blood flow to the heart, was fitted in around two hours.

Jeremy said: ‘It wasn’t especially painful. Just odd,’ and added that he has been thinking: ‘Crikey, that was close.’