New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- How do you solve a problem like Jeremy Clarkson?

You give him a television show. On the BBC's Top Gear, Clarkson spent decades converting bluster into broadcasting. He has a booming voice, a vocabulary of inappropriate superlatives and the conviction that every thought in his head deserves a tyre-squealing entrance. His bravado is half-performance, half-personality, earning chuckles for being rude while insulting foreign food and convertibles in the same breath.

To some, this is fearless television, a refusal to genuflect before political correctness or automotive manufacturers. Then again hearing Clarkson go off can sound like a V8 being loudly revved near a library, boorish and juvenile and too pleased with itse...