Viognier
Grape (Vitis)
Viognier grapes ripening on the vine
Color of berry skin	Green
Species	Vitis vinifera
Also called	Bergeron, Barbin, Rebolot, Greffou, Picotin Blanc, Vionnier, Petiti Vionnier, Viogne, Galopine, Vugava bijela[1] (more)
Origin	Croatia, France
Notable regions	Worldwide

Viognier (French pronunciation: [viɔɲje]) is a white wine grape. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhone valley.^[2]

History[link]

The origin of the Viognier grape is unknown. Viognier is presumed to be an ancient grape, possibly originating in Dalmatia and then brought to Rhône by the Romans.^[3] One legend states that the Roman emperor Probus brought the vine to the region in 281 AD. Another legend has the grape packaged with Syrah on a cargo ship navigating the Rhone River en route to Beaujolais when it was captured near the site of present day Condrieu by a local group of outlaws known as culs de piaux.^[4]

The origin of the name Viognier is also obscure. The most common namesake is the French city of Vienne, which was a major Roman outpost. Another legend has it drawing its name from the Roman pronunciation of the via Gehennae, meaning the "Valley of Hell". Probably this is an allusion to the difficulty of growing the grape.^[4]

Viognier was once fairly common. Now it is a rare white grape grown almost exclusively in the northern Rhône regions of France. In 1965, the grape was almost extinct when there were only eight acres in Northern Rhône producing just 1 900 liters of wine. The popularity and price of the wine have risen, and the number of plantings has increased. Rhône now has over 740 acres (3.0 km²) planted.^[3]

In 2004, DNA profiling conducted at University of California, Davis showed the grape to be closely related to the Piedmont grape Freisa and to be a genetic cousin of Nebbiolo.^[2]

Viticulture[link]

Viognier can be a difficult grape to grow because it is prone to powdery mildew. It has low and unpredictable yields and should be picked only when fully ripe. When picked too early, the grape fails to develop the full extent of its aromas and tastes. When picked too late, the grape produces wine that is oily and lacks perfume. Winemakers in the Condrieu often pick the grapes with a level of sugar that will produce wine with alcohol in the 13% range.^[5] When fully ripe the grapes have a deep yellow color and produce wine with a strong perfume and high in alcohol .^[2] The grape prefers warmer environments and a long growing season, but can grow in cooler areas as well.

In France, the Mistral has a distinct effect on the Viognier vineyards in the Northern Rhone. The wind tempers the Mediterranean climate of the region, and cools the vines down after the severe heat of summer.^[5]

Wine expert Remington Norman has identified two distinct strains of Viognier — an "Old World" strain, most common in Condrieu, and a "New World" strain, which is found in the Languedoc and other areas. Although made from the same grape, the two strains produce distinctly different wines.^[4]

The age of the vine also has an effect on the quality of the wine produced. Viognier vines start to hit their peak after 15–20 years. In the Rhone, there are vines at least 70 years old.^[6]

Regional production[link]

Viognier has been planted much more extensively around the world since the early 1990s. Both California and Australia now have significant amounts of land devoted to the Viognier grape. There are also notable planting increases in areas of moderate climate such as Virginia's Monticello AVA region.

The decline of Viognier in France from its historic peak has much to do with the disastrous introduction of phylloxera insects from North America into Europe in the mid- and late-19th century, followed by the abandonment of the vineyards due to the chaos of World War I. By 1965, only about 30 acres (120,000 m²) of Viognier vines remained in France, and the variety was nearly extinct. Even as late as the mid-1980s, Viognier in France was endangered. Paralleling the growth of Viognier in the rest of the world, plantings in France have grown dramatically since then. The grape has been enjoying some success in Central Italy and in the Piedmont region as well as South Africa, New Zealand, Greece^[7] and Japan.^[8]

France[link]

A Viognier Vin de Pays d'Oc from Languedoc

In France, Viognier is the single permitted grape variety in the appellations of Condrieu and Château Grillet, which are located on the west bank of the Rhône River, about 40 km south of Lyon. The majority of French Viogniers are sold as Vin de Pays in the Languedoc. In the Rhone wine region, the grape is often blended with Roussanne, Marsanne, Grenache blanc, and Rolle. In the Northern Rhone the grape is sometimes blended with Chardonnay.^[2] Vignerons in France often look to plant Viognier in areas rich in granite soil that have a heat retaining quality that the grape seems to thrive in.^[5] Beaujolais winemaker Georges Duboeuf helped expand the reach of the grape with plantings in the Ardèche region.^[9] In the Côte-Rôtie AOC up to 20% of red wine blends can include Viognier though most growers add no more than 5%. Since Viognier ripens earlier than Syrah, the grape is normally harvested separately and added to the Syrah during fermentation. One of the benefits of adding Viognier is the process of co-pigmentation that is produced which stabilizes the coloring of the red wine.^[10]

North America[link]

Since the late 1980s, plantings of Viognier in the United States and Canada have increased dramatically. California's Central Coast is the leading producer with over 2,000 acres (8 km²) of the grape planted. Californian Viogniers are noticeably higher in alcohol compared to other wines made from the grape.^[2] The Rhone Rangers of the mid 1980s helped spark the increased interest in Viognier in California.^[11] It has received international attention growing in Virginia, and in 2011 was named Virginia's official state grape. The grape can also be found in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri and Arizona as well as British Columbia and the Niagara and Lake Erie North Shore regions of Ontario.^[8]

South America[link]

Both Argentina and Chile have significant plantings of the grape with some producers in Brazil and Uruguay also experimenting with the varietal.^[2]

Australia[link]

In Australia, Yalumba is the country's largest producer of the grape making both a white wine varietal and making extensive use of the grape in its Shiraz blends.^[2] Yalumba grows the grape in the loam and clay soil of the Eden Valley.^[5] Other areas with Viognier plantings include Nangkita.,^[12] Rutherglen, Murray River, McLaren Vale, Geelong, Nagambie Lakes, Canberra, Mornington Peninsula, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills, Geographe, Yarra Valley (Pimpernel Vineyards) and Tenterfield.^[10]

Wine[link]

A Viognier wine from California

Viognier wines are well known for their floral aromas, due to terpenes, which are also found in Muscat and Riesling wines. There are also many other powerful flower and fruit aromas which can be perceived in these wines depending on where they were grown, the weather conditions and how old the vines were. Although some of these wines, especially those from old vines and the late-harvest wines, are suitable for aging, most are intended to be consumed young. Viogniers more than three years old tend to lose many of the floral aromas that make this wine unique. Aging these wines will often yield a very crisp drinking wine which is almost completely flat in the nose. The color and the aroma of the wine suggest a sweet wine but Viognier wines are predominantly dry, although sweet late-harvest dessert wines have been made. It is a grape with low acidity; it is sometimes used to soften wines made predominantly with the red Syrah grape. In addition to its softening qualities the grape also adds a stabilizing agent and enhanced perfume to the red wine.^[2]

In winemaking, the grapes are often harvested early in the morning to produce the clearest juice possible. Some winemakers will allow contact with the skins. The soft skin of Viognier is high in phenols - compounds that can leave an oily component to the wine if left in contact with the skins for too long. Sometimes the wine is put through malolactic fermentation to give the wine more weight and to decrease acidity. In New World Viognier, the lees may be stirred in a process called batonnage in order to increase the acid levels of the wine. The wine is then left on the lees till bottling in a manner similar to sparkling wine production.^[6]

In the creation of the dessert style Viognier, the grapes are often picked in late October or early November. In the Rhone region, the grapes normally are not affected by the fungus Botrytis cinerea though botrytized Viognier is not unheard of. A common harvest technique used in the Condrieu is known as à l'assiette where a plate is held underneath a Viognier vine that is then shaken to allow the overripe grapes to drop unto the plate. Fermentation is then stopped early through the use of sulphur to allow the wine to retain a high level of residual sugar. The wine is then chilled and put through sterile filtering to ensure that the wine is stable and will not start fermenting again in the bottle.^[6]

The wine is meant to be consumed relatively young and typically loses its perfume as it ages. Depending on the winemaking style the grape can often hit its peak at one year of age though some can stay at high levels of quality up to ten years. Typically Condrieu wines are the Viogniers most often meant to be drunk young while Californian and Australian wines can handle age a little bit better.^[13]

Food pairing[link]

The highly aromatic and fruit forward nature of the grape allows Viognier to pair well with spicy foods such as Thai cuisine.^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Viognier: California's Exotic, Rare White Wine
• Viognier in Australia
• Grapes of the Rhone Valley: Viognier from the Tablas Creek blog

Further reading[link]

• Ron Herbst and Sharon Tyler Herbst; Wine Lover's Companion; Barron's; ISBN 0-8120-1479-0 (paperback, 1995)

Oz Clarke
Occupation	Actor, broadcaster, television presenter and wine writer
Nationality	English
Subjects	Wine
www.ozclarke.com

Robert "Oz" Clarke is a British wine writer, television presenter and broadcaster.^[1]

Biography[link]

Clarke’s parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was raised Roman Catholic.^[2] He was brought up near Canterbury with a brother and a sister. Clarke became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and subsequently won a choral scholarship to The King's School, Canterbury. He later attended Pembroke College, Oxford where he studied theology and psychology and became Common Room President. He played University hockey, was University punting champion, sang with Schola Cantorum, and acted with the dramatic society and the Oxford Revue at the Edinburgh Festival. He also captained the wine-tasting team.^[1]

Having grown up in Kent, Clarke played cricket for Babes of Kent schoolboys and supports Gillingham. He can be seen wearing a Gillingham scarf in Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas, broadcast prior to Christmas 2009 and James May's Man Lab Christmas Special, broadcast prior to Christmas 2011, both on BBC2.

Acting career[link]

After Oxford, Clarke started a career as a full-time actor and singer. His first job was at Northampton, followed by Sheffield, Manchester and Leicester. He then worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre, The Old Vic and Chichester. In the West End, he played with Michael Crawford in Billy at Drury Lane, sang Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd, played all the men in the Mitford Girls and General Peron in Evita. It was during this acting period that he was drafted in to the newly formed English Wine Tasting Team, who won competitions against France, Germany, and the USA, amongst others. This proved crucial for his career development.

When a wine expert dropped out of the new BBC show Food and Drink, the acclaimed television producer Peter Bazalgette allegedly shouted, 'Get me the actor who knows about wine'. They did, and Oz's career was about to make a shift away from theatre towards wine, but not out of showbiz. He and Jilly Goolden became the voices and faces of wine in Britain for a generation.^[3]

He played one of the first criminals apprehended by Superman in the 1978 film Superman, a terrorist in Superman II, a Special Branch man in Who Dares Wins, and Balthasar in Stuart Burge's 1984 film of Much Ado About Nothing. He sang the baritone role - and Sam Gamgee's song - in the BBC adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, and recorded Stephen Oliver's A Man of Feeling for Granada TV.

In December 2011, Oz was one of the team in the BBC2 program broadcast on 18th December 2011 called James May's Man Lab Christmas special.

Wine career[link]

While performing in Sheila Hancock's Dandy Dick, he joined the Sunday Express as their first wine writer. He then became wine correspondent of The Daily Telegraph.

In 1982, Clarke won the last World Wine Tasting Championship, making him reigning champion as the event has not yet been repeated.^[4]

Clarke has written several award-winning books, and is generally regarded as the New World champion who led Britain's wine revolution in the 1990s and 2000s,^[5] but he is also a passionate supporter of the Old World classics, in particular Bordeaux. Clarke appears on numerous radio and TV shows, including A Question of Taste and The Wine Programme for BBC Radio 4. Recently he has made three successful BBCTWO TV series with James May - Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure in France and California, and Oz and James Drink to Britain.^[6] The comedian Hugh Dennis was later brought into this concept as Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas was broadcast in 2009, and the later series, Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar was broadcast over the Christmas period in 2010.

Clarke stated in Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure that he was banned from the Champagne region of France in the 1990s for having made statements suggesting that champagne was deteriorating in value while rising in price.

In November 2008 a survey by the wine industry consultancy firm Wine Intelligence was made public, having polled the views of more than 1,500 regular UK wine drinkers. Results show that Clarke was the most recognised wine critic in the UK.^[7][8] In 2009 he won the International Wine Challenge Personality of the Year award jointly with James May, in the same week as winning the Louis Roederer International Book of the Year for his book, Bordeaux. In 2010 he and James May won the TRIC Award for 'best documentary' (for Oz and James Drink to Britain). He was also awarded an Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Government.

Oz Clarke's written output is now published by Pavilion Books, an imprint of Anova Books. In December 2010, he launched his very first 'apps' for use on Apple's iPhone and iPad, through Anova Digital: 'Oz Clarke's Best Wines 2011' and 'Oz Clarke's Xmas Wines'.

Selected bibliography[link]

• The Essential Wine Book (1988) ISBN 978-0-670-80731-4
• Oz Clarke's Wine Guide [formerly Webster's Wine Guide] (published annually since the late 1980s, retitled Oz Clarke 250 Best Wines Wine Buying Guide, 2008–present) 2011 edition: ISBN 978-1-86205-896-5
• Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Book (annually since 1993) Pavilion Books (2007–present) 2011 edition: ISBN 978-1-86205-895-8
• Oz Clarke's New Classic Wines, Simon & Schuster (1991) ISBN 978-0-671-69620-7
• Oz Clarke’s New Encyclopedia of French Wines, Simon & Schuster (1991) ISBN 978-0-671-72456-6
• Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion, Little, Brown & Co (2004) ISBN 978-0-316-72874-4
• Clarke and Spurrier’s Fine Wine Guide, Little, Brown & Co (1998 and 2001) ISBN 978-0-316-64753-3
• Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Wine, Little, Brown & Co (1999 and 2003) ISBN 978-0-316-85157-2
• Oz Clarke’s Introducing Wine, Little, Brown & Co (2000 and 2003) ISBN 978-0-316-85450-4
• Oz Clarke's Wine Atlas, Little, Brown & Co/Pavilion Books (1995, 2002 and 2007) ISBN 978-1-86205-782-1
• Vinopolis World Wine Guide, Little, Brown & Co (1999) ISBN 978-0-316-85200-5
• Z Cards: Wine & Food Matcher, Wine Vintages. Wine Tasting, Wine Finder (2001)
• Oz Clarke's Grapes and Wines: A Guide to Varieties and Flavours, by Oz Clarke & Margaret Rand (2001, 2003, 2008) ISBN 978-1-86205-835-4
• Sainsbury's Book of Wine, Sainsbury's (1987) ISBN 978-1-870604-00-0
• Sainsbury’s Regional Wine Guides Series, Sainsbury's (1988)
• Sainsbury's Pocket Wine Guide, Sainsbury's (1993) ASIN B000RYL20
• Oz Clarke's Wine Companion to... – Bordeaux, Tuscany, Burgundy, California (1997)
• Microsoft Wine Guide (1995–2002, CD-ROM)
• Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, with Julie Arkell, BBC Books (2006) ISBN 978-0-563-53900-1
• Oz Clarke Bordeaux, Pavilion Books (2006, 2009) ISBN 978-1-86205-830-9
• Oz Clarke: 'Let me tell you about wine’ - A beginner’s guide to understanding and enjoying wine, Pavilion Books (2009) ISBN 978-1-86205-865-1
• Oz and James Drink to Britain, with James May, Pavilion Books (2009) ISBN 978-1-86205-846-0

Awards[link]

• Youngest ever British Wine Taster of the Year 1973
• Captain of victorious England Wine Tasters Team 1980
• World Wine Tasting Championship (winner) 1982
• Wine Magazine Book of the Year 1984
• Wine Guild of the United Kingdom Wine Writer 1984 (Webster’s Wine Guide), 1989 (Sainsbury’s Book of Wine), 1992 (New Classic Wines)
• Winner of the International World Wine Tasting Championships, Los Angeles
• Glenfiddich Drink Award 1983 (journalism), 1989 (journalism), 1992 (New Classic Wines)
• André Simon Drink Book Award 1992 (New Classic Wines)
• James Beard Wine & Spirits Award 1992 (New Classic Wines)
• Julia Child Cookbook Award (Wine, Beer & Spirits) 1996 (Oz Clarke’s Wine Atlas)
• Le Prix Lanson 1997 (Wine Guide CD-ROM)
• Le Prix du Champagne Lanson Special Millennium Award 1999 (for outstanding contribution to wine education and communication during previous decade)
• Jacob’s Creek Silver Ladle 1999 (Wine Guide CD-ROM)
• Le Prix Lanson Wine Book of the Year 2002 (Grapes & Wines)
• Special Millennium Award, Le Prix du Champagne Lanson 1999
• Le Prix Lanson Annual Wine Guide of the Year 2004 (Pocket Wine Book)
• International Wine & Spirit Competition Communicator of the Year 2006
• Roederer International Wine Book of the Year 2009 (Bordeaux)
• International Wine Challenge Personality of the Year Award 2009: Oz Clarke and James May
• Gourmand Award for Wine Literature 2009 (Oz and James Drink to Britain)
• TRIC award for TV Arts/Documentary programme 2010 (Oz Clarke and James Drink to Britain TV series)
• Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole 2010

See also[link]

• List of wine personalities

References[link]

Footnotes

External links[link]

• Oz Clarke official site
• Oz Clarke at the Internet Movie Database

James May
James May in 2006
Born	James Daniel May (1963-01-16) 16 January 1963 (age 49)[1] Bristol, England
Residence	Hammersmith, West London, England
Nationality	British
Other names	Captain Slow
Education	Caerleon Endowed Junior School Oakwood Comprehensive School
Alma mater	Pendle College, Lancaster University
Occupation	Broadcaster, journalist, author, pianist, media personality
Years active	1998 (1998)–present (present)
Employer	BBC, The Daily Telegraph, (prev. Channel 4, ITV & Sky)
Known for	Presenting: Driven, Top Gear, Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, Oz and James Drink to Britain, James May's Top Toys, James May's Toy Stories, James May's 20th Century, James May's Big Ideas, James May's Man Lab
Home town	Bristol, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Partner	Sarah Frater (2000–present)
Website
http://www.topgear.com/uk/james-may

This article may contain too much repetition or redundant language. Please help improve it by merging similar text or removing repeated statements. (May 2011)

James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring program Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson , and Richard Hammond.

On Top Gear, May has the nickname "Captain Slow" for his careful driving style, a love of small underpowered cars and habit of getting lost and distracted while driving. However, in a July 2010 episode of Top Gear he drove a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, reaching a speed of 417.6 kilometres per hour (259.5 mph).^[2] After his attempt the Bugatti test driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel took the car to 430 kilometers per hour (267.5 mph).

May has presented a variety of other programs on themes including science and technology, toys, cars, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. In addition he has released a variety of DVDs and books with similar themes, and wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section.

Early life[link]

James May was born in Bristol, one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother.^[3] May attended Caerleon Endowed Junior School in Newport, then in Monmouthshire. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church.^[4] He was also at school with Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes star Dean Andrews.^[5] A keen flautist and pianist, he later studied music at Pendle College, Lancaster University. After graduating, May briefly worked at a hospital in Chelsea as a records officer, and had a short stint in Her Majesty's Civil Service.^[6]

Personal life[link]

May lives in Hammersmith, London with dance critic Sarah Frater, whom he has dated since 2000.^[7][8]

May has owned a number of cars: Bentley T2, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Triumph 2000, Rover P6, Alfa Romeo 164, 1971 Rolls-Royce Corniche, Jaguar XJS, Range Rover, Fiat Panda, Datsun 120Y, Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1, Ferrari F430, 1984 Porsche 911,^[9] 2005 Porsche Boxster S (which he claims is the first car he has ever purchased new),^[10] Mini Cooper, Citroën Ami, Mazda MX-5 and several classic motorcycles including a Yamaha XJR1300, Moto Guzzi V11 Sport, a Triumph Daytona 675R and a 1978 Guzzi California. He has a penchant for prestige cars like Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, simple and basic cars such as the Fiat Panda, and motorcycles. He often uses a Brompton folding bicycle for commuting.^[11] He passed his driving test on his second attempt and justified this by saying "All the best people pass the second time".^[12]

May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006 having trained at White Waltham Airfield. He has owned a Luscombe 8A 'Silvaire' and an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon.

May received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Lancaster University on 15 July 2010. ^[13]

Journalism[link]

During the early 1980s, May worked as a sub-editor for The Engineer and later Autocar magazine, from which he was dismissed. He has since written for several publications, including a regular column called England Made Me in Car Magazine, articles for Top Gear magazine, and a weekly column in The Daily Telegraph.

He has written a book titled May On Motors, which is a collection of his published articles, and co-authored Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, based on the TV series of the same name.

He has also written the afterword to Long Lane with Turnings, published in September 2006, the final book by motoring writer L. J. K. Setright. In the same month he co-presented a tribute to Raymond Baxter. His book, Notes From The Hard Shoulder, was published on 26 April 2007. James May's 20th Century, a book to accompany the television series of the same name, was published on 6 September 2007.

[edit] Dismissal from Autocar

In an interview with Richard Allinson on BBC Radio 2,^[14] May confessed that he was fired in 1992 from Autocar magazine after putting together a hidden message or acrostic in one issue. At the end of the year, the magazine's "Road Test Year Book" supplement was published. Each spread featured four reviews and each review started with a large red letter (known in typography as an initial). May's role was to put the entire supplement together, which "was extremely boring and took several months". He went on to say:

So I had this idea that if I re-edited the beginnings of all the little texts, I could make these red letters spell out a message through the magazine, which I thought was brilliant. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was to the effect that "You might think this is a really great thing, but if you were sitting here making it up you'd realise it's a real pain in the arse". It took me about two months to do it and on the day that it came out I'd actually forgotten that I'd done it because there's a bit of a gap between it being "put to bed" and coming out on the shelves. When I arrived at work that morning everybody was looking at their shoes and I was summoned to the managing director of the company's office. The thing had come out and nobody at work had spotted what I'd done because I'd made the words work around the pages so you never saw a whole word. But all the readers had seen it and they'd written in thinking they'd won a prize or a car or something.

May's original message, punctuated appropriately, reads: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse."^[15]

This was referenced by Jeremy Clarkson during episode 2 of series 17 (in the course of the "hot hatch"-challenge in Italy) when May was noting Autocar's opinion on the Renault Clio Cup he had chosen for the challenge, to which Clarkson replied "Autocar.... The magazine that sacked you...?"

Radio and television[link]

His past television credits include presenting Driven on Channel 4 in 1998-99, narrating an eight-part BBC One series called Road Rage School,^[16] and co-hosting the ITV1 coverage of the 2006 London Boat Show.^[17] He also wrote and presented a Christmas special called James May's Top Toys (for BBC One) exploring the toys of his childhood.^[18] This list was followed up the next year by a sequel of sorts, broadcast on BBC Two, entitled James May: My Sister's Top Toys, this time attempting to investigate the gender divide of toy appeal.^[19] In series 3, episode 3^[20] of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word, May managed to beat Ramsay in eating animal penises and rotten shark (which Ramsay himself couldn't keep down)^[21] and with his fish pie recipe.^[22][23]

[edit] Top Gear

May first co-presented Top Gear in 1999, before it was axed by the BBC because of poor viewing figures. He rejoined the show in the second series of the present Top Gear format in 2003, where he earned the nickname "Captain Slow" owing to his careful driving style. Despite this sobriquet, he has done some especially high-speed driving, including in Top Gear Series 9, taking a Bugatti Veyron to its top speed of 253 mph (407 km/h) which is nearly one-third of the speed of sound at sea level and later on taking a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport edition to 260 mph (417 km/h). In an earlier episode he also tested the original version of the Bugatti Veyron against the new Pagani Zonda F. On the show he claimed that it was 'a piece of cake' driving those cars, but seconds later Jeremy Clarkson played a tape showing him spinning wildly over the test track in the Zonda. Originally he did not want to do this test, but Clarkson had hurt his neck in the previous episode while driving a truck through a brick wall and Richard Hammond claimed that he was busy selling fish at Morrisons. He is often mocked for a poor sense of direction, shown getting lost many times throughout the course of the series, including race tracks and even being mocked once by Jeremy and Hammond for mistaking a normal Range Rover as the camera crew. He also flew in a Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon at a speed of around 1320 mph for his television programme, James May's 20th Century. He also became one of the first people – with co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson and an Icelandic support crew – to travel by car to the magnetic North Pole, using a modified Toyota Hilux. He claims to be the first person on the north pole who didn't want to go there. He was also one of the first people to drive across the Makgadikgadi salt plains in Botswana.^[24] He has driven a 1.3 litre Suzuki SJ413 through the Bolivian jungle and along Death Road and over the Andes to the Pacific Ocean in Chile. He also drove a modified Toyota Hilux (also used as a crew car during the North Pole expedition) up the side of the erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.

Science[link]

May has also presented a documentary for Sky about sharks called Inside Killer Sharks and a series looking at inventions and discoveries during the twentieth century, entitled James May's 20th Century.^[25] In late 2008, the BBC broadcast James May's Big Ideas, a three-part series in which May travelled around the globe in search of implementations for concepts widely considered science fiction.^[26]

[edit] James May on the Moon

In June 2009 May presented a documentary on BBC Two called James May on the Moon commemorating 40 years since man first landed on the moon.^[27] This was followed by another documentary on BBC Four called James May at the Edge of Space, where May was flown to the edge of space (70,000 ft) in a U.S. Air Force Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Highlights of the footage from the training for the flight, and the flight itself was used in James May on the Moon, but was shown fully in this programme.^[28] This made him one of the highest flying persons, along with the pilot, at that time, after the crew of the International Space Station.^[28]

[edit] James May's Toy Stories

Beginning in October 2009, May presented a 6-part TV series showing favourite toys of the past era and whether they can be applied in the modern day. The toys featured were Airfix, Plasticine, Meccano, Scalextric, Lego and Hornby. In each show, May attempts to take each toy to its limits, also fulfilling several of his boyhood dreams in the process. For example, in August 2009, May built a full-sized house out of Lego at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey.^[29] Plans for Legoland to move it to their theme park fell through in September 2009 because costs to deconstruct, move and then rebuild were too high^[30] and despite a final Facebook appeal for someone to take it, it was demolished on 22 September, with the plastic bricks planned to be donated to charity.^[31] Also for the series, he recreated the banked track at Brooklands using Scalextric track,^[32] and an attempt at the world's longest working model railway along the Tarka Trail between Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon, although the attempt was foiled due to stolen batteries and vandals placing coins on the track, causing a short circuit.^[33]

Drink[link]

In late 2006, the BBC broadcast Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, a series in which May, a committed bitter drinker, travelled around France with wine expert Oz Clarke.^[34] A second series was broadcast in late 2007, this time with May and Clarke in the Californian wine country,^[35] and was followed by a third series in 2009 called Oz and James Drink to Britain.

Career[link]

Television[link]

DVD[link]

Books[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Telegraph Motoring - James May's weekly column
• James May at the Internet Movie Database
• James May on Top Gear
• Daily Mail article on May

Simon Woods (born 1980) is an English actor best known for his role as Octavian in Season 2 of the British-American television series Rome and the 2005 Pride & Prejudice as Mr. Charles Bingley. He also recently starred as Dr Harrison in the BBC1 costume drama series Cranford, whose arrival in the village "sets female hearts racing."

Personal life[link]

He attended Eton College, then read English at Magdalen College, Oxford.^[1] While at Oxford, he was in a relationship with Rosamund Pike that lasted two years.^[2] Despite the break-up, the two later played lovers Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley in Pride & Prejudice.

After graduating from Oxford, Woods worked briefly at The Guardian before becoming an actor.^[3]

In 2009, he announced that he was gay and was in a relationship with Burberry designer Christopher Bailey.^[2][4]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ ^{a b} Barber, Lynn (24 May 2009). "I don't sleep around, if that's what you mean ... Would you like some more cake?". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/may/24/rosamund-pike-actress-interview. 
3. ^ Woods, Simon. "Simon Woods". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-woods. 
4. ^ Standing, Sarah (28 May 2009). "Rise of the strays: Who hasn't had a partner who is now with the other sex?". The London Evening Standard. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23700765-rise-of-the-strays-who-hasnt-had-a-partner-who-is-now-with-the-other-sex.do. 

External links[link]

• Simon Woods at the Internet Movie Database