James May earns honorary doctorate from his alma mater

Zach Bowman — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:57:00 EST

That's Doctor Captain Slow, to you. James May, one of the three amigos of Top Gear fame, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Lancaster University. May graduated from the institution in 1985 with a degree in music, though according to the BBC, he hasn't been back to the school in nearly 10 years. May now carries an honorary Doctor of Letters diploma from his alma mater and says that he was flattered to receive the accolade.

May isn't the only Top Gear presenter with an honorary degree under his belt. Oxford Brooks University awarded Jeremy Clarkson with an honorary engineering doctorate in 2005. As far as we know, Richard Hammond has earned no such honor from any institution to date. Something tells us that there's bound to be quite a bit of ribbing over this fact on the Top Gear set.

[Source: BBC I Image: Top Gear]

James May earns honorary doctorate from his alma mater originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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REPORT: Thieves derail James May's bid for toy train record

Chris Shunk — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:40:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Toys/Games, UK, Celebrities

Railroad enthusiasts are a pretty passionate bunch. They're not auto enthusiast crazy, but they're close. Top Gear presenter James May fed off that steam-powered energy by working with 400 volunteers to build the longest ever toy train track for his new BBC series James May's Toy Stories. The track was to travel 10 miles from Barnstaple to Bideford, North Devon in the UK, and the Guinness book of World Records was on hand to record the feat for prosperity in the event that it succeeded.

As the Telegraph tells it, the ambitious toy track likely would have been a record setting effort were it not for some vandals who decided to sabotage the attempt. Sections of the track - which were laid with assistance from the British version of the Boy Scouts - were stolen, and two pence coins were dropped on the track to disrupt power and blow the train's battery. The cowardly acts of a few idiots ultimately resulted in James May and his gang of volunteers missing the opportunity to be added to the Guinness Book of World Records, but organizers decided to stay positive and call the event a success due to the fact that all 10 miles of the track were linked at one point.

We're guessing May will get another shot at Guinness with planned stunts like building a life-size Lego house or a life-size Meccano bridge, but it would have been nice if a few jerks didn't ruin the fun of hundreds of toy train ~~geeks~~ aficionados.

[Source: Telegraph | Image: Dave Hogan/Getty]

REPORT: Thieves derail James May's bid for toy train record originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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