Jeremy Clarkson suspended from Top Gear

At a hotel in Yorkshire, during a 40 minute rant, Jeremy Clarkson has been accused of punching producer Oisin Tymon in the face.

As in most cases like this, there are three sides to the story, Clarkson's side, the victim's side and the truth.

Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond and some of the production team returned to their hotel at 10pm after spending two hours drinking at a hotel.  They were all hungry and Clarkson became furious when the waiter told him that the chef had gone home and there was only soup and cold cuts available.

By the time they arrived back at the hotel, most of the production team had gone to bed, except for Tymon, who stayed up to greet Clarkson and his colleagues.

During his meltdown and screaming match, Clarkson called the producer a "lazy Irish ****" and threw a punch that split his lip and left blood running down his face.  He was taken to the nearest hospital where he said he felt "dizzy." During his rant, Clarkson promised to do everything in his power to make sure he was sacked for allowing the situation to happen.

Eventually, the hotel manager Robert Scott prepared a steak for Clarkson in an effort to calm him down.

Oisin Tymon

There was such an overwhelming outpouring of support for Clarkson on social media, Tymon had to consult with lawyers after fans threatened to kill him.  Solicitors Slater & Gordon said "We are assisting Oisin Tymon in relation to incidents occurring during his employment at the BBC."

Clarkson will deny using xenophobic language or punching Tymon when he appears before the BBC inquiry conducted by the head of BBC Scotland, Ken MacQuarrie.  He will say that he raised the incident himself with senior BBC managers after apologising to the Top Gear crew for his outburst.

Later, writing in his column for the Sun, he thanked the thousands of people who had signed the petition and wrote "All dinosaurs died and now years later, no one mourns their passing. These big imposing creatures have no place in the world that has moved on. You can start as many campaigns as you like and call on the support of politicians from all sides, but the day must come when you have to wave goodbye to the big monsters and move on.  We lose one animal and get another.  The world turns.