It seems as if former Top Gear presenter and current Grand Tour host James May has been around forever.

Ever since 2003 when he joined Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond to help revolutionise the BBC's car programme, he's been at the forefront of popularity, along with his two pals.

Top Gear opened many doors for May, presenting his own shows such as James May's Top Toys, James May's 20th Century, James May's Man Lab and The Reassembler, among many others. However, prior to his television exploits, the 54-year-old wasn't always in his jobs for long.

In the first episode of The Grand Tour, during the epic opening sequence, Jeremy Clarkson introduces him by listing the jobs he was fired from.

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Perhaps the best sacking story May has to offer is his dismissal from Autocar magazine, where he worked as a sub-editor.

One of his roles was to put together an end of year supplement called 'Road Test Year Book'. Each article in the spread had its first letter in large typography, and after an "extremely boring several months," May made the big letters spell out a cryptic message.

The subsequent message read: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse." Somehow it wasn't spotted by his superiors and was published. It was not until avid readers began sending it in thinking it was some sort of competition, with a prize to whomever spotted it first, that the senior management noticed.

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Credit: Autocar Magazine

Obviously he got the boot, but it wasn't all bad, as he went on to write a series of articles for 'Top Gear Magazine', which then led to a few presenting spots on the original version of the show in 1999. The rest, of course, is history.

When the presenter eventually left the BBC, supporting close mate Jeremy Clarkson following his 'fracas' and sacking, it was reportedly the first and only time he ever jumped ship voluntarily.

Here he is pissing himself about the fact the Yorkshire police force can't measure children.

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Credit: BBC