1 day Ago By [email protected] (Matt Jackson)
Alan Titchmarsh joked ‘if we make it’ as he prepares for a major marriage milestone with wife Alison. Much-loved gardening expert Alan and Alison tied the knot on July 26, 1975. The pair share adult daughters Polly and Camilla together.
During a recent appearance on the Spooning podcast, presenter Mark Wogan said: “You’re a very happily married man of how many years?” Alan replied: “Fifty in July, well, if we make it.” Things could however have been different for Alan, who initially expressed an interest in one of his friend’s current wives. However, a young Alan was rejected by the woman in question.
He made the revelation on the Rosebud podcast with former MP Gyles Brandreth. When asked if he pursued Alison, Alan replied: “I pursued her. “But we got on very well, we were always very comfortable.
We had a couple of friends who were together in the operatic as well. “In fact I asked my friend Steve’s now wife – they’ve just celebrated their golden wedding – I asked her out first, on Thursday. She said, ‘Oh I can’t do tonight, it’s the night I wash my hair.
’” Alan revealed he would go out in a group of friends, including Alison. He explained: “Anyway, we all used to go out together in a group. Alison was sort of there, we sort of got on, I thought she was really rather special.
” Speaking to Mark Wogan, Alan later went on to discuss his appreciation of solitude. The Gardeners’ World star revealed he revels in activities that let him spend some time on his own. He explained: “Gardening is solitary and writing is solitary.
I could not do without being on my own. There’s a world of difference between loneliness and solitude. “Solitude for me is vital.
Gardening with birdsong, writing in silence, I don’t have music or anything, particularly with a novel, which I’m working on at the moment, novel number 13. You’re in the zone.” Alan’s media career began in gardening journalism, before he branched out into radio in 1988.
His first television appearance came on the Nationwide as a horticulture expert. He took over as the presenter of Gardeners’ World in 1996, before joining Ground Force with Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh a year later. He fronted Gardeners’ World until 2002.
Alan launched Love Your Garden on in 2011 before his current project, Love Your Weekend began in 2020. This weekend he will be joined by Susie Dent, Sheila Ferguson and Reuben Owen. Viewers will get a preview of the Shetland Pony Grand National trials while Jamie Butterworth will recreate his spring garden.
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs on ITV One from 9.30am..
