Lawyer told 'learn to spell' by Jeremy Clarkson says he is dyslexic

Lawyer who was told to ‘learn to spell’ by Jeremy Clarkson on his farming TV show reveals he is dyslexic as he slams the presenter for the jibe

• Charles Streeten published the open letter to presenter Jeremy Clarkson 
• Mr Streeten revealed experiencing a lifetime of social anxiety around spelling 

A lawyer who was mocked on screen by Jeremy Clarkson over his poor spelling has gone public to reveal that he is dyslexic – and revealed how the jibes reawakened memories of his traumatic school days.

Barrister Charles Streeten appeared in the second series of Amazon Prime reality show Clarkson’s Farm when the remarks that stung him were made.

Streeten – now revealed as having experienced a lifetime of social anxiety around spelling – was representing the local authority in a dispute with Clarkson over planning permission to expand parts of his Diddly Squat farm enterprise that the show is based on.

Today Mr Streeten published a powerful open letter addressed to Clarkson which opens: ‘Learn to spell.’ Well, I’ve certainly tried. When you muttered those words to me you couldn’t have known how many times I’ve heard them. But to a dyslexic, it’s a familiar phrase.’

Barrister Charles Streeten appeared in the second series of Amazon Prime reality show Clarkson’s Farm when the remarks that stung him were made

The spark for the row is understood to have come during a hearing, believed to have taken place last January before West Oxfordshire district council’s uplands area planning subcommittee.

The former Top Gear presenter said he wanted to expand his business, arguing: ‘The reason it is, is because farmers maintain it, farmers look after the woodlands, the hedges, the streams. 

‘They keep it beautiful. The farmers are not going to be able to do that for much longer because of the parlous state of their finances. We have been told as farmers to diversify and that is exactly what this proposal is; it’s a diversification of a farming business.’

It was during this that he’s believed to have made the disparaging remarks about Mr Streeten’s written responses.

A report of the hearing in The Guardian says: ‘The TV star took a swipe at spelling mistakes in the council officer’s report.’

Mr Streeten further riled Clarkson by pointing out there had been 56 letters of objection compared to 13 of support for his proposals, adding that Clarkson had a ‘general disregard’ for planning rules and claimed his conduct was ‘shameful’. He reportedly went on: ‘It indicates a ‘give me an inch and I’ll take a mile’ attitude.’

The eventual ruling went in favour of Mr Streeten and against Clarkson.

It’s understood footage of parts of these exchanges was recently screened as part of Season 2 of the fly on the wall documentary – which seems to have prompted Mr Streeten’s very public attack on Clarkson.

In it he describes how Clarkson’s own friend and colleague, the journalist and restaurant reviewer AA Gill who died of cancer in 2016, was a fellow dyslexic who he had drawn inspiration from.

The full text of Mr Streeten’s letter reads: ‘Learn to spell.’ Well, I’ve certainly tried. When you muttered those words to me you couldn’t have known how many times I’ve heard them. But to a dyslexic, it’s a familiar phrase.

A report of the hearing in The Guardian says: ‘The TV star took a swipe at spelling mistakes in the council officer’s report’ 

‘At school, I always failed spelling tests. No matter how hard I worked, or how often I stowed the list of words beneath my pillow, when the time came to be tested, I simply could not put the letters in order with certainty.

‘My ears would burn and I would know I’d failed again. As the rest my class graduated to Beryl roller-balls and fountain pens, I was limited to the indignity of a pencil; one with a rubber grip, to force me to hold it properly. It was at that school, as it happens the very same school to which you sent your daughter, that they told me a career at the bar wasn’t for me.

‘Even at an institution that offers its pupils every imaginable advantage, becoming a barrister wasn’t realistic if you couldn’t pass a spelling test. The inability to arrange letters according to historical convention is, to this day, seen as the calling card of indolence or imbecility. Usually both.

‘The mandatory ration of extra time doled out indiscriminately to dyslexics, dyspraxics, and those with ADHD certainty didn’t help me.

‘Forced reluctantly to accept it by my undergraduate tutor, I memorably put the time to good use by making a last minute substitution, diligently scrubbing out the correct spelling. No one has ever better expressed the simmering frustration of a dyslexic education than your friend, AA Gill.

‘An eternity of prodding from the ‘nice plump woman’ from ‘learning support’ yields an inedible compote of detached indifference. Erudite, eloquent, hilarious and humane (your words not mine), Gill’s dyslexia begat his urbanity. You don’t have to be able to spell Wolseley to enjoy breakfast there.

‘I know you understand this. When schools release exam results each year, you show solidarity with those who might otherwise surrender to helpless resignation. It’s not about the cars, boats, or villas; its [sic] about enfranchising those illserved [sic] by formal education. Nowhere is this message more important than in rural communities.’

Mr Streeten then concludes: ‘I may be a London barrister, but I am not a Londoner. My home is in Shropshire. My friends are farmers: dairy, beef, arable. There is an honestly to the countryside beyond urban comprehension. People care what you have to say, not how you say it. Just ask Kaeleb [his assistant and co-star in the show] . Or Gerald.

‘Your pean to Gill contains first class advice. It avoids the modern lexicon of neurodiversity. ‘Make it someone else’s problem’. I try to follow that maxim. Dyslexia didn’t forestall my career at the bar. So far as I am aware, and despite the concern expressed by at least one member of my Chambers during pupillage, not one judge, juror, or West Oxfordshire planning committee member has ever failed to understand me because I cannot spell. Whether a writer, a barrister, or a farmer, good spelling, it seems, is not essential.’

The row with Mr Streeten is the latest in a string of controversies to engulf Clarkson, the most prominent of which was his remarks in a column about ‘hating’ Meghan Markle which prompted a record number of complaints and a grovelling apology.

Mar Clarkson and Mr Streeten have both been contacted for comment.

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