In his first ever podcast interview, I chat to Gardeners’ World Presenter and gardening “Top dog” Monty Don.
In this podcast we discuss how he went from jeweller to TV gardener.. how he feels about being in the spotlight and when he thinks he'll pass on the baton of BBC Gardeners World head presenter.
To get Mr Monty Don On the podcast we've created music videos, spoke to the agent and even created a hashtag through you lovely listeners! it turns out all I had to do was pluck up the courage and go say hello to Monty. And let me tell ya, this podcast did not disappoint.
Monty Don O.B.E. is the UK’s leading garden writer and broadcaster. He has been making television programmes for over twenty years on a range of topics, spanning travel, craft, outdoor living and, principally, gardening. He has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s World since 2003 and since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire.
Born in 1955, Monty grew up in Hampshire where he gardened with his family from a young age, and was educated at a variety of schools followed by Magdalene College, Cambridge. From the early 1980s, Monty and his wife Sarah set up and ran a fashion jewellery business which enjoyed considerable success, but closed in 1990 just as Monty’s television and writing career was taking off.
A prolific horticultural journalist, Monty Don was the Observer’s gardening editor from 1994 until 2006. He now contributes a regular column for the Daily Mail and Gardeners’ World Magazine. Monty’s numerous books include the bestselling Fork to Fork, The Jewel Garden (both with Sarah Don), Around the World in 80 Gardens, The Complete Gardener, The Ivington Diaries, The Road to Le Tholonet, and his latest bestsellers Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs and Down to Earth. Monty’s most recent book, Japanese Gardens: A Journey, like Paradise Gardens, was created with the acclaimed photographer Derry Moore.