TIL Top Gear's international popularity was due largely to early episodes being shared illegally on the FinalGear forum when the show was only available in the UK. When the forum's founder passed away, Jeremy Clarkson posted a tweet acknowledging how important he had been to the show's success.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/26723/alex-mills-founder-of-the-infamous-fan-sit…
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1g9gzmw/til_top_gears_international_popularity_was_due/