Alan Titchmarsh

22/12/2009

Gardener, novelist, TV presenter and sex symbol, aged 60

I was an 11 Plus failure so I went to secondary school in Yorkshire. I didn’t enjoy it much, I was a square peg in a round hole. I wasn’t very happy, though I enjoyed art and drama. I think I frustrated the English teacher, who didn’t think I had much talent. So aged 16, with one O Level in art, I left school and became an apprentice gardener at the parks department. From that moment on I felt I’d been freed. I realised that I had a talent, I was good at something, and that was incredible for me.

I was always very eager to please, very enthusiastic. I wasn’t cool, it isn’t cool to always shoot your hand up in the air to answer the question at that age. And I’ve never been blessed with much confidence. I’d like to go back and say to that 16 year old, have a bit of confidence in yourself. Not arrogance – I don’t regard that as an admirable quality – but I think a lack of confidence can really hold you back. It probably still does with me.

If I met the young Alan now I’d think he was quite diffident. I think I’d quite like him but I’d feel he was too sensitive for his own good. That has helped me – you have to be very sensitive to mood and atmosphere to grow plants. But those traits leave you open to being hurt and feeling things too strongly at times. I’d advise the younger me to lean back on life a bit. And not to worry so much about not being attractive or finding a girl.

When I was at Kew I actually wrote off for a prospectus for RADA, and that’s the only thing I’ve always wondered about. In my spare time I always acted and enjoyed drama. There was a little germ in me that really wanted to be an actor. But I never applied – and I feel that in a way I have ended up performing on TV. I became a gardening performer.

Fame crept up on me. I started doing radio in the early ‘70s, TV in the late ‘70s – it wasn’t until 1997 that Ground Force came about so I was an old hand by then. But suddenly everybody knew who I was and it was quite tricky and I wasn’t sure I liked it. So I sat down with myself and said, either I stop now or I jolly well get used to this. I’ve got a family who keep me very grounded so that’s not a problem. In the end fame is like having a lot of neighbours.

I’d tell my younger self, be patient. It will all come. You’ll stick with the things you’re passionate about and you’ll get lots out of them. You won’t have to fall into other people’s way of thinking so don’t worry about trying. You’ll get away with a lot. He would be astonished at the life I’ve had – he’d be so pleased I have a great family, two great children and a lovely wife. He did worry about getting a wife.

No man is going to say he doesn’t want to be a sex symbol. It does make me smile though. I like to think I’ve improved with age.

The Alan Titchmarsh Show is on daily at 3pm on ITV1


Interview: Jane Graham