At 72, Britain’s favourite gardener Alan Titchmarsh has promised to slow down. Or rather, he’s vowed to his family he’d do so but actually has no intention of doing anything of the sort.
And frankly, he just doesn’t have time to.
The face of TV gardening for more than 30 years, he’s still a regular on our screens, and is showing as much gusto on ITV ’s Love Your Garden as his did in his Ground Force days.
This month, he hosts his Grand Christmas Classics events in London, Manchester and Birmingham, a concert of seasonal favourites and festive readings with local choirs and a full orchestra.
Oh, and then there’s a Boxing Day Love Your Garden special, followed by his 12th novel in the spring.
If that’s not exactly what his wife of 46 years Alison had in mind when she made him vow to take things easier.
Alan, however, is confident she knows exactly what he’s like.
“My family keeps saying to me, ‘You shouldn’t be working as hard as you do’,” he says. “So I’ve told them I’ll try to slow down. But the problem is I love what I do. I must try to get the balance better, but I love it.
“I’m not knackered of an evening either. I used to get more shattered when I was doing the chat show in the afternoon, and that was 10 years ago now.
“I think Alison is anxious that I don’t overdo it, but she’s very understanding too.”
Alan credits a lifetime of gardening with keeping him in good shape, bar some knee surgery a few years ago.
“I would say I’m pretty fit for my age, I can still run for a bus or a train, and I often do,” he says.
“The only concession I make on Love Your Garden, is if there’s a massive tree to plant. Then I get someone else to dig the hole.”
Has he ever thought about retirement? “Never. Why would I retire and have to find something to interest me and fill the day? I’ve got a sense of purpose and reason to get up in the morning, that’s the greatest gift of all.
“But I do consider myself very lucky to still be on the screen at my age.”
Alan and former doctor Alison, who live in a Grade-II listed farmhouse in Hampshire, first met at an amateur dramatics club in the 1970s.
They now have adult daughters, Polly, 42, and Camilla, 40, and four grandchildren aged six to nine.
And Alan’s hoping they can have their usual family Christmas again.
“Last year we did what we could. Alison and I really abided by the rules and spent so much time waving at grandchildren over the garden gate,” he says. “To be back this year to some semblance of normality is just such a treat.
“We’ve got a barn here and a week before Christmas we get friends round for an evening’s entertainment which I tend to put together. Just 50 or 60 people.
“I think we’re going to spend Christmas Day at my daughter’s, the first time we’ve spent it away from home, which is exciting. I’m a great believer in being flexible, I’ll just go where I’m put.”
The son of a plumber dad and mill worker mum from Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire, Alan was bullied for his diminutive size at school. Yet his transformation to beloved TV star began when he discovered a talent for gardening at 10.
He left school with just an O-Level in art, but after studying for a City and Guilds in horticulture aged 18, he moved to London to do a diploma at Kew Gardens, before switching to gardening journalism.
He started off as a horticulture expert on BBC show Nationwide, then hosted Gardeners’ World in 1996 before leading the Ground Force team the following year.
And his passion could be in his DNA. “It wasn’t until I’d actually gone to Kew that my dad told me both his father and grandfather had been gardeners,” he says. “It’s obviously in the genes.
“I was approached to do Who Do You Think You Are? but my sister was the deputy head of a school and I didn’t do it in case we uncovered anything unpleasant that her pupils would use as a stick to beat her with.
“A fan did a family tree for me which went back to 1700s. We were yeoman farmers, so there’s a connection with the lands that’s always been there.”
Has he passed on his green fingers to his four grandkids? “No signs so far,” he says. “I did get them growing vegetables this spring. They loved it for a bit, but then got bored and went back to playing football.
“They all live 15 minutes away, so I see them all the time. I like being part of their lives and gently impinging without it being, ‘Oh gosh, Grandpa’s here, what do we have to do now?’. The best way to catch a butterfly is to stand still until it lands on you, rather than chase after it.”
The grandkids are beginning to understand he’s famous. He says: “The eldest boy said, ‘Grandpa, you’re Alan Titchmarsh aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yes’. That’s all I could think of to say.
“When my own eldest was about six, I found her leafing through a copy of Woman’s Own, intently looking for something. She said she was looking for pictures of her schoolfriend’s daddy. ‘Well, there are always pictures of my daddy in here, so I’m looking for a picture of hers’!”
But Alan, who is “very excited” about being asked to help with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee pageant, isn’t comfortable with everything that comes with being a national treasure.
For despite having 48,000 Instagram followers, he’s got no urge to be an influencer.
“My publishers have been getting on to me for years asking, ‘Are you going to do Instagram?’ So I did,” he admits. “I’m not sure I’m going to carry on doing it. I don’t follow anyone and I keep forgetting to post.”
Maybe it can also be the one thing he can tell Alison he’s really given up.
- Grand Christmas Classics with Alan Titchmarsh comes to London, Birmingham and Manchester from December 9. Tickets are available at www.raymondgubbay.co.uk