1 week Ago By Robin Cottle
Gardeners' World icon Alan Titchmarsh joked that he and wife Alison 'had the same haircut' when they got married almost 50 years ago. The 75-year-old told Gyles Brandreth's Rosebud podcast about the first time he laid eyes on his future wife. Alan said he went to see a production of the Desert Song which she was dancing in back in 1971.
He called her a 'very good dancer' but by the time the pair tied the knot four years later, the gardening presenter that there was one physical feature the newlyweds had in common. Alan said: "By the time we got married in 1975, we both has the same haircut. So year, I remember the first time I saw her.
"I pursued her. But we got on very well. We were always very comfortable.
The TV star, who was the main presenter on Gardeners' World from 1996 to 2002, revealed that he thought she was 'really rather special' after meeting her while he was in London studying for the National Certificate in Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. Alan and Alison celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year while the couple share two children. The ex-Gardeners' World presenter recalled: "I remember coming back on a train journey from back home down to London.
"I thought: 'I think I'll always be with her.' It wasn't the big bells and whistles and all that. "It was just kind of: 'I really rather like being with you.
' And 50 years on, 50 years next year. "She's very tolerant. We have a little cushion in our bathroom which hangs on a window thing.
It says 'behind every successful man lies an exhausted woman'." Alan also provided some insight about why he might have forged such a successful career in gardening. He claims his dad said he was a 'loner' at school which Alan reckons is a useful attribute for a career in gardening (or writing).
Alan added: "My dad always said when I was at school I was loner and I think he's right. I think that's why I write and why I garden which are solitary. I've never been lonely, I've always been comfortable in my own company.
".
