Here's Top Gear motormouth Jeremy Clarkson in much better nick, with fewer miles on his clock and more streamlined upholstery, reveals the Sunday People.

Our exclusive pictures show a fresh-faced, playful Clarkson having fun in the sun – long before the days of TV fame, double denim and a middle-aged paunch.

Many of the holiday snaps feature Clarkson smooching and teasing Alex Hall, his girlfriend who he wed in 1989.

Alex, 47, said: “Look how skinny he was then. He should thank you for publishing these because he looks a darn sight better back then.

"That’s who I fell in love with.”

The pair, who met in 1982 when she was 17 and he 22, enjoyed holidays in the South of France, Crete, Sicily and the Alps before marrying in Hampshire and honeymooning in Mauritius seven years later.

His best man Andy Wilman went on to get rich with him as Top Gear producer.

But the following year Clarkson and Alex split up and, as our picture shows, he sent a moving note about his broken heart.

Yet the snaps also show a lighter side to the 54-year-old presenter who is one of the BBC’s biggest exports but whose barbed and crass comments have repeatedly embarrassed his TV bosses.

(Image: Matrixpictures.co.uk)

Clarkson revealed his naughty nature in Crete in 1986 by trying to take off Alex’s bikini for a photo.

But she took revenge with a picture of him sat on the loo in their London flat.

Alex and Clarkson had their first ­holiday alone together in Sicily in 1987.

Now a twice-divorced businesswoman, Alex says: “We were usually with a group of friends on those holidays, Jeremy would be acting the fool, showing off and making sure he was the centre of attention.

“When it was just us two, he was much sweeter and I remember coming back and thinking how wonderful it was with him.”

But she also has fond memories of Clarkson photographed saluting a Union Jack off the south coast of France, when his parents hired a boat for his 24th ­birthday, and racing through the Alps for a week in a Ford Cabriolet.

Clarkson was less happy on boats.

On a fishing trip in Mauritius they were pictured holding hands, all loved up. But he became seasick.

Alex said: “But we did catch the biggest marlin they’d ever had.

"They served it at the hotel we stayed at for the two weeks we were there.”