According to Wikipedia, the original presenters were Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne. The former is a national treasure, but the latter is less well known. He worked on a lot of other shows in his time, including local news programmes for Tyne Tees TV and BBC Midlands, and BBC Nationwide; and he was in The Archers for three years (playing gamekeeper Gordon Armstrong). He died in 2015, aged 84.
Coyne left Top Gear after one series, and Rippon was joined by Noel Edmonds in 1979. Rippon left after one more year (I'm sure there were other reasons) and Edmonds was joined by Frank Page, a motoring journalist. Over the next 20 years or so there were more than 20 other presenters, including William Woollard (1981–91), Tiff Needell (from 1987), Quentin Willson (from 1991), Vicki Butler–Henderson (also from 1991) and Julia Bradbury (1998–9). The rapid turnover in presenters was a factor in the BBC's decision to ditch the show in 2001. Most of the production staff, and three of the presenters (Needell, Willson and Butler–Henderson) moved to Channel 5 to make Fifth Gear, but Jeremy Clarkson – who'd joined in 1988 – along with producer Andy Wilman, persuaded the powers that be at the BBC to relaunch Top Gear in a new format. The relaunch came about in 2002 ... and the rest is history.
© Haydn Thompson 2018