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made his millions as one third of the hosting team on from 2002 to 2018, but it turns out the motoring journalist isn't the only famous face in his family. It turns out the 65-year-old presenter's late mother Shirley gifted her children a touching Christmas present that gave their family a fortune.

Jeremy received the first ever Paddington Bear prototype after his mother handmade the children's toy as a present to the Clarkson's Farm star and his sister. After the toys were admired by friends, Shirley and her husband Eddie began making unofficial teddies in the 1970s and selling them in local shops. However, Paddington Bear author Michael Bond heard about them being sold without his knowledge and considered trying to sue the couple for copyright infringement.

But a chance meeting between Michael and the Clarksons in a lift where they were introduced to one another through a mutual friend brought a resolution to the fierce conflict.

During the conversation, the two parties struck up a deal which meant that they were able to continue manufacturing and selling the adorable Paddington Bear teddies.

Revealing how they made an agreement that suited both sides, he told the last year: "I got in the lift with Shirley and Eddie. They were terribly nice and pretended it had all been a mistake - and we were friends by the time we got out of the lift. I gave them a licence."

Shirley, who sadly passed away in 2014, previously admitted that her son Jeremy might not have the successful TV career he has today without her invitation. She told AutoTrader: "Without Paddington Bear, Jeremy might not have carved out his star-studded path on TV."

The huge success of their business allowed the couple to enroll Jeremy in atop private schools Hill House School in Doncaster and Repton School in Derbyshire.

The Paddington Bear website says: "The very first Paddington bear soft toy was designed in the UK by a lady called Shirley Clarkson. She made it as a Christmas present for her children, Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson, (who was to go on to become a world-famous motoring journalist).

"So many people admired Shirley's Paddington that she started to make some more until her company, Gabrielle Designs and was granted an official licence to sell them in the UK in 1972."

Following his impressive upbringing, Jeremy trained as a journalist and soon began working in local news before working on Top Gear magazine.

It didn't take long before he began filming for Top ear on the BBC in the 1990s before masterminding the 2001 reboot alongside James May and Richard Hammond.