Diddly Squat: The No 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

Product Information

Diddly Squat – A Year on the Farm is the companion book to the first series of Clarkson’s Farm, and like the series, it follows Jeremy Clarkson as he stumbles through learning how to actually be a farmer in his famous, bumbling ‘I’m a complete idiot,’ style. I love the drawings scattered throughout, at the beginning of each chapter and section. I really enjoyed looking at them as I was reading. It balanced out the writing, humour and serious comments on the state of the farming industry and the government actions. It is slightly worrying about how our planet will look in just a few years or a decade and how much we rely on other countries. Clarkson has done more for farmers in one series than Countryfile achieved in 30 years' James Rebanks, author of A Shepherd's Life Clarkson raises a number of issues with farming in the UK that the general public wouldn’t know about, which seem to be quite a bit different to in Australia as the government seems to have more control over what is grown. I enjoyed comparing what I know of Aussie farming with Clarkson’s experience in the UK (I still can’t get over that each field has a name). The columns are humorous, easy to understand and give an insight into different aspects of farming (right down to the farm shop). It’s clear that even for all its frustrations, Clarkson enjoys farming and it really shows through his writing. There’s a sense of pride and love in sharing his farming life. The book is essentially a journal, so it both starts and ends incredibly abruptly - like Clarkson both ran out of things to say and also got bored of writing at all.

Endise Briti huumorisaate Top Gear juht otsustas pärast mitut pööret oma elus teha järgmise järsu kurvi ja hakata farmi pidama. Ta olla selle juba ammu ostnud, kuid selle eest hoolitseja otsustas minna pensionile ning selle asemel, et otsida uus sarnane ametimees, otsustas Clarkson asja ise käsile võtta. Eks aitas kaasa ka Covid-19, mis täpselt siis kõik 6 jala 7 pöidla ja 9 küüne pikkuste impeeriumi mõõduühikute kaugusele karantiini surus. He writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun, but is better known for his role on the BBC television programme Top Gear. In one short comedic series, and book, Clarkson has done more to highlight the plight of farming in Britain today, and, as he says, he does this to earn 40p a day. He speaks of the high injury/death rate due to farm accidents and the terribly high rate of suicides in farming. And he speaks from the heart because, despite all the hardship—he knows that without his other income from TV shows he would have gone under a long time ago—he loves what he is doing. Pull on your wellies, grab your flat cap and join Jeremy Clarkson in this hilarious and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the farm we're all obsessed with . . . Clarkson has showcased the passion, humour and personalities of the people who work throughout the year to grow the nation's food . . . and brought an understanding of many of the issues faced by farmers to the British public' National Farmers UnionThe small illustrations are ded good when each chapter arrives; nice that Kaleb Cooper and Cheerful Charlie get mentioned quite as bit also. It is just an amazing book, so if, like me, you enjoy agricultural and business/ comedy books, it is a must read. Looking forward to S2 of Clarkson’s farm in Feb. Ma arvan, et kõlab nagu paljude inimeste karjäär, sest kes ikka üsast välja potsatades kõike oskab. Pärast võid oma õppeprotsessist panna kirja vahva lugemise ning kui sa oled Jeremy Clarkson, siis see avaldatakse lausa paberi peal ajalehes. Kui sa oled suvaline minusugune, siis kirjutad sa selle internetti kuhugile digipapüürusele, et pakkuda vähemalt teistele oma kannatustest meelelahutust. Sest sarnaselt Top Geariga ei ole tegemist lugejat säästva õpetliku traktaadiga, vaid ikkagi ajaviitelugemisega Briti keerulisest olukorrast COVIDi ja Brexiti aegu. Igasugu UK viiteid on tõsiselt palju, mille kohta maakeelde tõlkija on kannatlikult pidanud iga lehekülje alla harimatutele eestlastele selgitusi viitama, mis võtavad Clarksoni hoogsal tekstil kahjuks tugevasti inertsi maha. This book is classic Clarkson filled with all his wit and humor, but this time about his new, and serious, job. During Covid, Jeremy tries his hand at farming on his land that he has owned for quite a few years after his farm manager retires. What we end up with is someone that really does not know what he is doing, but still tries his best while listening to nobody's advice. The book is made up from his Sunday Times column writings, and it is fabulously funny. As an aside - I surprise myself by having quite a bit of patience with the English version of this humour, but I think it may have to do with the fact that it's not told in the horrible Gothenburg accent. And just to not be too hard on Gothenburg, it needs to be said that I spent most of my mandatory military service there and that probably coloured my perception of it ( not really, seriously, stay away!)

Review What I most learned from this book, was that government decisions on the environment can have devastating effects, I had not heard of these examples. They came after major interference on what the author needed to do with a water supply for his crops. So, being utterly and completely uninterested in cars*, I have obviously not a clue of who Jeremy Clarkson is and what makes him famous** An idyllic spot offering picturesque views across the Cotswolds, bustling hedgerows and natural springs, it's the perfect plot of land for someone to delegate the actual, you know, farming to someone else while he galivants around the world in cars.And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it's worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . . After Great Britain is hit by 2 catastrophes: Covid and Brexit, the author-journalist Jeremy Clarkson takes on the challenge of running a farm for a year. He explains his journey as bite-size articles throughout all seasons from tending animals such as vengeful sheep, to cultivating crops that he has never heard anything of. He faces the unpredictable weather with a great sense of humor. His sheep are trying to kill him. His pigs are re-enacting The Great Escape. He wants a chainsaw but he’s afraid of them, and he constantly worries that he’ll walk home some day with his severed arm in a bag.

I loved Clarkson's Farm it was hilarious and also showed how deadly serious farming is. The main problem with this book is that it's made up of Clarkson's newspaper columns. So if you've read those then you've read this already and if you haven't read them then reading them all in one go is weird. The repetition means constant deja vu, the references which may have been topical in a weekly column are lost here. There are tidbits of interesting knowledge about farming or the law and how it interacts with farmers but this is never selected into, instead the book prefers to go on raging tirades against Greta Thunberg instead. Strange. I enjoyed the book. It was a year in the life of a very, very wealthy man trying to be a farmer since Covid had cut his car-reviewing career down to naught. He bought Lamborghini tractors! He called his farm Diddly Squat because that's what it made: nothing. But he has a farm shop that he and other locals (etc?) supply and his name and fame has ensured its success. Miraculously, I thought I’d get through the book without reading anything problematic. However, close to the end you get Clarkson making several snarky comments about transgender issues and pronouns like ‘what the lefties also can’t understand, because they’re too busy deciding whether to go to the women’s lavatory or the men’s’. His opinionated but humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style has often generated much public reaction to his viewpoints. His actions both privately and as a Top Gear presenter have also sometimes resulted in criticism from the media, politicians, pressure groups and the public.see audioraamat pole muidugi mingi õige raamat, vaid Clarkson loeb lihtsalt ette oma Timesi kolumne sellest ajaperioodist, ja osasid neist olen lausa enne lugema sattunud. aga mitte kõiki, pluss audioversiooni on ta vürtsitanud mõnede lisakommentaaridega, mida ma eestikeelset paberversiooni poes lapates trükis küll ei näinud. näiteks üks paremaid kolumne, kus ta üsna veenvalt ära tõestas, et kogu Ühendkuningriigi maa tuleks anda rikkuritele a la Sting, kes saaksid seal looduslikku mitmekesisust hoida ja orgaanilist toitu kasvatada, ilma muretsemata, et see ära ei tasu - sellele oli ta audios nii ette kui taha lisanud kommentaari, et see on erakordselt idiootlik idee ja ta ei saa aru, kuidas ta midagi sellist üldse kirja sai panna. Such a bad book. So, so bad. But this is what i get for reading something I found discarded at an airport. Jeremy may never succeed in becoming master of his land, but, as he's discovering, the fun lies in the trying . . .

of the time I don't agree with what Clarkson has to say. 25% of the time I don't even understand what he's talking about. Yet if he's on the telly, I'll watch it. There's something so entertaining and endearing about Clarkson and he never fails to make me laugh.Clarkson finds himself, like all farmers, up against the vagaries of the British weather. It’s too hot, it’s too cold. It’s too dry, it’s too wet. He battles red tape, new regulations, and the devastating damage Brexit has caused to farming. The Government, and the exhausting, continuous hard work just to try and make a living from the soil. All jokes aside, some of this was pretty interesting and will give a nice introduction of biodiversity and the environment to people who would never usually be concerned about it.