Mandela mistook Jeremy Clarkson for an astronaut

TELEVISION presenter Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he failed to correct Nelson Mandela after he mistook him for being an astronaut.

The identity mix-up took place when the Top Gear presenter was introduced to the former South African president.

Clarkson later admitted he was too nonplussed to correct Mandela and told him the moon was "rocky and dusty".

The meeting got off to a bad start when he asked a puzzled Mandela, 91, if he had ever been to a lap-dancing club.

The former president was so wrong-footed by Clarkson that he thought he and James May, Clarkson's fellow Top Gear presenter, must be the American astronauts that he had been told he was to meet later, so he asked Clarkson what it was like on the moon.

"This was tricky," said Clarkson, "so I did what I thought was best and said it was very rocky and dusty and there was not much gravity."