James May was fired from Autocar magazine in 1992. He lost his job because he played a prank (a joke) that the magazine’s managers did not like. At that time, he worked as a sub-editor. He was responsible for the Road Test Year Book. May secretly changed the layout of the magazine. He arranged the reviews so that the first letter of each article spelled out a hidden message. The message was a bit rude. Nobody noticed the joke before the magazine was printed and sold.
Some readers found the message funny, but the bosses at the magazine were very angry. They thought it was a serious mistake, not just a harmless joke. Because of this, they fired him shortly after. However, losing his job was actually a turning point for James May. It gave him the freedom to look for other work in writing and television. Eventually, this led him to become a famous presenter on Top Gear and The Grand Tour. Today, people remember this story as a great example of his "dry" sense of humor. It shows how a small joke at work helped him start a much bigger career.
