Strictly and you can f orget about I ’m a Celeb

vise the nation what to do – I’ve always been grateful to t greenflies!” That led to him being a regular on the BBC show as a horticulture expert. expert Then he f r onted t he Beeb’s Chelsea Flow Flower Show coverage for 20 years from 1983.

In the m meantime dad- of- tw two Alan, who’s married to Alison, b became a n national n name th thanks to Gr Ground Fo For r c e . In 1997 1997, he took garde gardening to the ma masses with the hit hi series, when he and presenters Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh would perform a makeover on a homeowners’ outside space.

“They were remarkable years,” reminisces Alan. “Audiences of 12 million. We were second only to Eastenders. I meet people now in their 30s saying, ‘I was allowed to stay up to watch you’.”

The show travelled as far as the US and South Africa, where one episode saw the team make over Nelson Mandela’s garden.

Alan, who was appointed an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to horticulture and broadcasting, says that experience is “up there” as a highlight of his career.

Alan has also presented shows as diverse as Songs of Praise, Antiques Roadshow and Last

Night of the Proms, things he never dreamed he would do.

He says: “If you’re lucky your life can be full of surprises.

“I’ve always thought, g , ‘I’ll have a go at that’.”

In t he current nt climate of political and nd social unrest, Alan n believes that green space is central to holding our communities together.

He says: “We need ed to make a difference e to our immediate surroundroundings. People feel powerless to make a difference, that it’s just governments who can, which I strongly argue against.

“If everyone looked after their patch for wildlife, gardened organically, we can make a difference.” Alan says that gardens have the power to unite people of all backgrounds and cut completely across society.

He says: y “Thirty odd years ago when I did Breakfast Time, Elto Elton John was sat on the re red sofa and he was a asking me about his f ferns – that was s surreal.

“My message is: G Grow things. Teach ch children how to sow se seeds, watch them come up and nurture them. It’s so important. Everyone of us should be growing something.”

Watch Fifty Shades of Green with Alan Titchmarsh on ITV tomorrow at 9pm.

Elton John sat on TV sofa and talked of ferns... it

was surreal