See all Motoring NewsSo, if you're wondering how on Earth the BBC has justified suspending Jeremy Clarkson for a missed air punch in a dispute over a steak, it's worth pointing out just how many chances the man has had over the years.
And we don't even have to plumb the depths of 'old' Top Gear either, the era of the show when he famously savaged the first generation Vauxhall Vectra by simply not bothering to review it at all.
He's managed to offend lorry drivers, when - in a 2009 trucking special - he claimed there was no wonder they were tired when all day, all they did was “change gear and murder prostitutes”. Then he went and picked a totally safe target by mocking Islam, by saying a woman in a burka tripped over and revealed stockings and suspenders underneath.
Mexico was next up, in the infamous exchange (in which Richard Hammond and James May were equally culpable) in which Clarkson claimed the ambassador wouldn't be bothered by what they were saying, as he would undoubtedly be asleep in a poncho and sombrero. And then we get to the two most contentious incidents, where he reputedly said the n-word in relation to race (and for which he was forced to issue a grovelling apology) and then made an ill-advised and ill-timed comment about an Asian chap walking across a bridge. This is without even taking into consideration the international incident sparked in Argentina, involving a Porsche 928 and the supposedly Falklands-referencing number plate H982 FKL.
So yes, it may - in isolation - seem a bit harsh to ban the guy for a 'handbags' altercation held late at night in a Yorkshire pub peopled entirely by the BBC Top Gear production team, but in this case, it would seem to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Anyway, look forward to seeing JC back on Top Gear in the very near future, as the Beeb will undoubtedly have an embarrassing climb-down when it realises how much money it will lose if it sticks to its guns...