My top ten favouite Top Gear Specials.

To make it clear, I loved the old Top Gear series. Every Sunday at eight I would sit down to watch one hours worth of silliness and car fun with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. But what I particular liked is when they would do the specials. These would involve all three of them selecting a vehicle each, then go on an adventure. Either trekking their way through the amazon jungle or exploring the North Pole, the specials are something worth watching. So these are my top ten favourite ones.

No 10. The U.S.A special.

Where to start but with the one that started them all. The Top Gear trio arrive in Florida with cars (that coast a thousand US dollars each) and have a long road trip to New Orleans. The trip involves them crashing into a river full of alligators, camping for the night but have to eat road kill, and being chased out of the state of Alabama by angry locals. Sadly the DVD version cut a lot of bits out of the special which spoils it a lot. But there is an extended version on a rereleased DVD.

No 9. The Patagonia special.

This one everyone would know off. This is the one where the trio travel through Argentina and Chile so that they could play car football in the southern hemisphere of the planet. But they ended up abandoning it because of the licence plate on Jeremy Clarkson's car. I would go on but you should already know what happened. This is sadly the last special the trio would ever do together.

No 8. The Vietnam special.

In this special, the trio are in Vietnam. Where they have to travel from the south to the north on bikes. This one has a lot of laughs as they keep getting huge and useless gifts for each other, have to go to a driving school, and even when Jeremy and James spray paint Richards bike pink.

No 7. The Botswana special.

The trio travel through Botswana. Across the famous salt flats, through the Okavango Delta, seeing many wild animals, and many other things along the way. But what makes this special stand out is that it is the one where they introduce Richard's special car Oliver.

No 6. The South American special.

Jeremy, Richard, and James are challenged to drive three off road cars from Bolivia to the pacific ocean in Chile. Where they have to take on thick rainforest, bumpy dust roads, the deadliest mountain side road in the world, the driest desert ever, and even a road that takes them over an active volcano.

No 5. The Polar special.

The trio have a race to see who can get to the North Pole first. Richard with a slay and husky dogs or Jeremy and James in a car. On their journey they'll encounter super thin ice which they have to drive over, huge bolder fields where they have to get across, abandoned research labs, and have to get there so that James can eat a tin of Spam.

No 4. The Middle East special.

This one (as many of the specials have been) was aired during Christmas. In this one the trio arrive in Iraq and have to travel to Bethlehem like the three wise men. This one will take them through five countries and have to buy gold, frankincense, and mirth for who ever is at the end of the journey.

No 3. The India special.

On a diplomatic mission (as they call it), the trio are in India trying to help the trade industry. This involves traveling in three British cars, hosting a garden party, have a mountain side race, and through-out the journey sing "Hey Jude!" by John Lennon (which was changed to "The Seeds of Love" when the special was released outside of the UK. Which is also the version that is on the DVD sadly).

No 2. The Burma special.

The team are in Burma (Myanmar) where they have to travel in three lorries in order to help build a bridge over a river (there is a lot of references to the film and book "Bridge over the river Kwai" And also the true events that the film was based on). This journey takes them through villages, cities, and they even attend a party. And the end part where they build the bridge is also worth wile.

No 1. The Africa special.

The trio are in Africa again where they're searching for the source of the river Nile. This one is great because it includes them turning their cars into mobile homes, re-encountering the African wildlife, coming across a town called Jezza (which Jeremy claims it was named after him), building a car ferry across a river, and all in the name of finding the source of the river Nile.

The top ten short horror stories to read this Halloween.

No 10. Oh Susanna.

The story: This story tells about a collage girl who returns home after a long day at the library. Her roommate had just gone to bed and so she goes to bed herself. But all through the night, her roommate kept humming the tune "Oh Susanna". The girl kept asking her to stop it so she can get some sleep but her friend ignores her. Finally the girl looses it. She jumps out of her bed, goes to her friends bed, pulls the covers off, and discovers to her horror that her friend had been decapitated during the night. The girl (in shock) claims that she is having a nightmare and that she must return to sleep in order to wake up. Thus leaving the question of who had killed her friend and if that person was still in the flat. Because if her friend wasn't humming the song, then who was?

No 9. Cemetery soup.

The story: An old woman was taking a shortcut through a cemetery when she notices a bone sticking out from a grave. She then disrespectedly removes the bone from the grave and takes it home with her. With the intention of using it as a soup bone. Once she got home, she puts the bone in some boiling water (along with vegetables, salt and pepper, beef chunks, and herbs) and begins to make the soup. But while she is doing this, a disembodied voice keeps calling out to her and asking for it's bone back. But the old woman ignores it. The voice then proceeds to get louder and louder until it becomes defining. Finally the woman takes the bone, throws it out of the window in anger, and in a voice louder than the other one tells the thing to "TAKE IT!". Something then takes the bone and runs away. And woman then has a bowl of soup.

No 8. The Cats Paw.

The story: After something keeps stealing the meat from his meat larder, a famer decides to hide in the larder to catch the thief. But is surprised to see that the thief is an abnormally large female cat. When the cat tries to steal a leg of lamb, the famer fires at the cat and shoots off one of its paws. The cat then runs away in pain. The famer notices that the paw is wiggling like mad. And it then morphs into a human foot. Suddenly a neighbour appears saying that his wife had just lost her foot. But what was weirder is that she is howling and spitting just like a cat. And speaking of cats.....

No 7. Wait till Martin comes.

The story: A man is lost in the wilderness when he comes across a old house. He decides to spend the night there and continue the next morning. He finds a fireplace and (after starting a fire) falls asleep. But then he is awaken by the sound of a cat entering the room. It was then followed by a larger cat. They both look at the man. And (to the man's shock) the larger one asked "shall we do it now?" to which the little one replies "wait till Martin comes". The man begins to get nervous. Especially as bigger cats keep wondering into the room and asking the same question. There are two endings to this story. The first one is where the man runs away from the house calling back "When Martin does come, you'll tell him that I couldn't wait!". While the other ending shows him trying to leave the room.... when Martin himself enters.

No 6. Alligators.

The story: This story is about a young couple who had just moved into a quiet town near a river. The couple both love each other very much but the husband has the very odd obsession of swimming in the river all night long. And his wife would complain about how lonely she's becoming. The couple then have twin sons. But their father began to teach them how to swim. And then took them swimming in the river with him at night. The neighbours then began to notice that the woman was beginning to act strangely. Especially when she went around saying that her husband was trying to turn him and their sons into alligators by swimming in the river at night. But everyone kept saying that there was nothing wrong with a father teaching his children how to swim. And also that no one can turn into an alligator. But then one morning, the woman came running into town all soaking wet. She said that a big alligator and two little ones had pulled her into the river. They were her husband and sons and they wanted her to live with them in the murky waters. But no one took her seriously and she went into a mental hospital. And after that no one saw the husband nor the twin sons again. But those who walk by the river or go fishing would tell about seeing three alligators swimming around in the river.

No 5. Wonderful Sausage.

The story: One afternoon, a butcher kills his wife after a long and savage argument. But to keep everyone from finding out what happened, he cuts her up and (after burying her bones in the back garden) turns her into sausage meat. He then sells the sausages (saying that they were made out of a exotic animal's meat) and they instantly became a hit. So the butcher goes around killing people and turning them into sausages. But then one day he gets found out after one of his victims manages to escape. No one knows what happened to the butcher after he was caught (was he lynched or turned into a sausage) but he was never seen again.

No 4. The Big Toe.

The story: A person (either a small boy or an old woman) is digging around in their back garden, when they come across a hideous toe (either hairy, skinny, or big). They then take the toe and place it under their bed in a tin (or in one version eat it). Then they go to bed. But during the night, they keep hearing a voice calling out "Where's my toe?". And who every was calling go's inside the person's home, climbs the stairs, and enters the person's room still calling "Where's my toe?!" The story ends with a hideous monster leaping at the person yelling "YOU'VE GOT IT!".

No 3. "There is room for one more".

The story: A man journeys to Philadelphia for business reasons. He spends the night at a motel. But he has a dream where a hearse stops outside his window. And the driver says that "there is room for one more" before driving away. The next day the man puts the dream behind him and goes to Philadelphia. He then goes to the top of one of the many skyscrapers and does the said business. Afterwoulds he decides to take the lift back down to the ground floor. But when the lift arrived, it was very crowded. One of the lift's occupants noticed the man and said "there is room for one more". The man gets scared and said that he'll take the stairs, obviously remembering his dream. The lift doors closed and it started to go down. But as the man began to head for the stairs, he heard a loud snap. Then the sounds of people screaming. It turns out that the lift's cables had snapped. Plunging everyone inside to their deaths.

No 2. Harold.

The story: When things get boring on a cow farm, two famers decided to create a doll/scarecrow to put in the vegetable garden. So they made one and named it Harold (named after a local famer that they both hated). Over time they began to treat the doll as if it was Harold himself. From light playful  jokes to physical violence when things go wrong. They even smear food in it's face. But after some days of this, the doll slowly comes to life and decides to get revenge on the two famers. From grunting and getting on their nerves to climbing onto the roof of their home and stomping around. The two famers are so scared of what Harold might do next that they decided to move the cows to another location. Where they hoped to stay the rest of the year safe and sound. But when they arrived, they realised that they had forgot some milking stools, so one of them decides to go back for them. But when the other famer goes back when his friend didn't come back for hours, he noticed Harold on the roof of the house again. Only this time it was stretching out a freshly cut and bloody human skin to dry in the sun.

No 1. The Tailypo.

The story: After an unsuccessful hunting trip, a hunter returns home to his hut to discover that a tail of an abnormally large rat like creature was poking out of the ceiling. He then grabs a large knife and cuts off the tail. And what ever the creature was ran off. The hunter then decides to roast and eat the tail (seeing that there was nothing else for him to eat) and afterwoulds goes to bed. But during the night the hunter hears the creature coming back and asking for it's tail back. It get's closer and closer till it is right at the foot of the bed. Then kills the hunter.