Jezza flies off to Barbados with Baron’s former wife
JEREMY Clarkson is nuts about the ex-wife of a playboy known as Baron Bonkers.
We can reveal the Grand Tour host is now dating Lisa Hogan, a blonde mum of three who is 10 years younger than him.
And he’s whisked her off on a romantic break to Barbados.
Former Top Gear star Clarkson was snapped with Lisa, 46, at the island’s airport.
The pair have been spotted out on three different occasions in recent months and are now staying as guests at musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Caribbean mansion.
Lisa certainly matches Clarkson when it comes to a colourful background. She split from aristocrat Steven Bentinck – said to be so eccentric he’s nicknamed Baron Bonkers – in 2005. They had three children together.
The 6ft 2in Dublinborn beauty was “discovered” by John Cleese in the early 90s while struggling to set up a second-hand clothes business.
The Monty Python star employed her as a researcher, became a close friend and, in 1996, gave her a small role in Fierce Creatures, his follow-up to smash hit A Fish Called Wanda. She played a sealion keeper alongside Ronnie Corbett.
Yet what may have most impressed Clarkson, 56, is her ability to walk away from the wreckage of a crash – but of the plane, rather than car, variety.
She was flying to rehearsals for Fierce Creatures when the private jet she was in crashed on to a dual carriageway. It was then hit by a van near RAF Northolt in West London. Lisa later said she had a gut
feeling something was going to happen and moved to the back of the plane just before the van came through the cabin. It destroyed all the seats except for hers.
Without a scratch on her, she got out of the aeroplane and walked along the wing, saying: “I’m going to be late for my rehearsals.”
LOVE
She later said the crash had been “quite liberating in a strange way”.
“Beforehand I was very controlled,” she said. “I was very cautious of giving my heart to anyone. But when you think, ‘I’m going to die’ you think, ‘God, I should loosen up a bit and just let myself fall in love’.”
There were no such dramas as Clarkson and his new flame were picked up by Lloyd Webber’s chauffeur at the airport on Thursday. The presenter had a quick cigarette then clutched a bottle of local Banks beer as he and Lisa were driven off to the composer’s mansion on the Sandy Lane estate. An onlooker told the Sunday Mirror: “Jeremy looked very relaxed around Lisa, and they seemed very taken with each other. “They were laughing and joking around like a new couple.” It is a break with tradition for Clarkson, who for years has stayed at the Coral Reef Club resort on the island’s west coast. He was divorced from his wife of 21 years, Frances, in 2014 following rumours of an affair with events organiser Phillipa Sage. Controversial Clarkson, sacked from the BBC motoring show in 2015 for punching producer Oisin Tymon, was later romantically linked with TV boss Elaine Bedell and socialite Samantha Wickens before seeing Lisa.