Mr Clarkson, who lives in Oxfordshire, hosted a fundraising auction for Sir Chris’s Tour de 4 charity at a clay pigeon shoot in Northamptonshire, organised by Mr Horner, who lives near the Oxfordshire border close to Banbury.

The event, held at the Marston Estate, raised £1 million in a single afternoon, with much of the final total coming from an extraordinary intervention by Mr Clarkson, as The Times reports.

Speaking on his Sporting Misadventures podcast, Sir Chris, 50, said: “Jeremy Clarkson did the auction at the Tour de 4 clay shoot that Christian Horner put on and we raised £1 million in an afternoon.

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“We got to £850,000 with all the tickets and the tables and the auction, and they wanted to hit £1 million.”

At that point, Mr Clarkson turned to the guests who had flown in by helicopter and asked for £10,000 from each of them.

Sir Chris revealed: “Jeremy said, ‘Right, there are people here who have arrived in helicopters.

“‘Everyone here who has got a helicopter, I want ten grand.’ So he went around the room going, ‘Ten grand from you, ten grand from you,’ and he got £150,000 from people, and that’s what made it up to £1 million.

“It was astonishing. I don’t think anybody else would have got away with doing that, but he has that presence. It was a fantastic afternoon, really good fun.”

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Sir Chris, a six-time Olympic gold medallist, founded the Tour de 4 cycle challenge after being diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

He has since become a high-profile campaigner for better screening and awareness, using the event to “change the perception” of what it means to live with an advanced cancer diagnosis.

Mr Clarkson, known for Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Amazon’s Clarkson’s Farm, revealed earlier this year that he had undergone surgery for an aggressive form of prostate cancer after it was picked up in a routine medical.

He has since said he is in remission and urged men to get checked.

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Tour de 4 will return to Glasgow this September, starting and finishing at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

The inaugural ride attracted more than 5,000 participants and raised over £3 million for cancer charities, with this year’s event again supporting Macmillan Cancer Support, Breast Cancer Now, Cure Leukaemia, Prostate Cancer UK and Maggie’s.

Mr Hoy has said his diagnosis has changed the way he looks at each day. Speaking earlier this year, he reflected: “I never imagined that I’d be able to get to this point where I’m actually just living life and not just living life, but actually appreciating it more than ever.

“It’s just about appreciating the mundane fun of life, the mundane elements of life which can be wonderful.”

The blaze broke out on Monday (August 3) in fields behind houses in Chipping Campden, just across the Oxfordshire border in Gloucestershire.

74-year-old gardener and landscaper Francis Owens died at the scene after a large fire erupted in dry fields behind Berrington Road and Castle Gardens.

Emergency services received multiple 999 calls at 5.38pm reporting a fast‑moving blaze.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said 13 fire engines were deployed at the height of the incident.

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Deputy chief fire officer Nathaniel Hooton said: “We were called at 5.38pm on Monday 3 August following multiple reports from members of the public about a large fire in fields behind Berrington Road and Castle Gardens in Chipping Campden.

“As a service, we extend our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased and to the wider community.

“At the height of the incident, 13 fire engines were in attendance. This was a multi‑agency response.

“We worked extremely hard with colleagues from neighbouring fire services to bring the fire under control.”

Gloucestershire Constabulary confirmed that Mr Owens, from the local area, was declared dead at the scene.

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A police spokesperson said: “Following a fire in Chipping Campden last night, a man in his 70s from the local area was sadly confirmed dead at the scene.

“His family and the coroner have been informed, and our thoughts remain with all those who knew him at this time.

“Police do not suspect any third party involvement in the death.2

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Owens’ son Patrick described his father as “the Renaissance man of Chipping Campden” and an “amazing father” who had been devoted to his wife Mandy for 50 years.

The cause of the fire has not yet been established, and Gloucestershire Police and the fire service say investigations are continuing.

The Change.org surpassed the 500,000 milestone just before Thursday afternoon, August 6 and continues to rise at speed.

Hundreds of thousands of people across the UK are demanding the government do not let Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole out of jail early.

Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after ministers exempted rapists and “serious” child sex offenders as part of the scheme to tackle overcrowding in jails.

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Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper’s death in 2019

As she backed the calls, widow Lissie Harper said: “Government has punched us in the gut… they should be ashamed of themselves.

“Hopefully we can make the current Government come to their senses and realise we cannot put people like this back on our streets. Justice should mean justice and serving the sentence given.”

Aileen O’Connor, who chairs the Thames Valley Police Federation, said releasing Cole and Bowers would anger and demoralise serving officers in the area.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she supported the Police Federation in considering a judicial review.

She told Today: “I’m not arguing against early release. We’ve had early release even under Conservatives.

“I’m against early release of this dangerous category of rapists, paedophiles, killers, including the killers of Pc Andrew Harper.”