Quentin Willson, an original host of Top Gear, has died at the age of 68 following a short illness.

The motoring journalist fronted the BBC programme in its first series, working alongside Jeremy Clarkson in 1977, before it reached stratospheric popularity.

Last year, Willson spoke exclusively to Metro about working on Top Gear, where he also presented alongside Vicki Butler-Henderson and James May.

Reflecting on his stint on the show, he said: ‘We were very lucky to have lived through this wonderful golden age of cars and car programmes because you couldn’t make them now.

‘It wouldn’t get screened, and people aren’t as interested… or at least television commissioners aren’t as interested in cars as they were then. ‘It was a lovely time to make a TV programme about cars at a time when

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