Monty Don
Encyclopedia
Montagu Denis Wyatt Don (born 8 July 1955) is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture
, best known for presenting the BBC
television series Gardeners' World
.
, son of Denis Don, a career soldier posted in Germany and Janet (née Wyatt). Both parents died in the 1980s. Don has a twin sister, an elder brother David, and two other siblings. His twin suffered a broken neck and blindness in a car crash, aged 19.
Both his paternal grandmother and grandfather were Scottish; he is descended from the Keiller
family of Dundee
, inventors of chip marmalade
in 1797.
Don was educated at three independent schools: Quidhampton School in Basingstoke
, Hampshire
, Bigshotte School in Wokingham
, Berkshire
, and at Malvern College
in Malvern
, Worcestershire
, a college he hated. He then attended a state comprehensive school, The Vyne School
, in Hampshire. He failed his A levels and while studying for re-takes at night school, worked on a building site and a pig farm by day. During his childhood he had become an avid gardener and farmer. "Green fingers, silver tongue". Observer article 25 May 2008 He determined to go to Cambridge out of “sheer bloody-mindedness”, attending Magdalene College, where he read English
and met his future wife Sarah.
market,” he wrote. He was unemployed from 1991 to 1993.
Don's first TV work came as the presenter of a gardening segment on breakfast show This Morning
. He featured as a guest presenter for the BBC's Holiday
programme. He went on to present several Channel 4
land and gardening series: Don Roaming, Fork to Fork, Real Gardens and Lost Gardens, and wrote a regular weekly gardening column for The Observer
between February 1994 and May 2006. Don had never received formal training as a gardener. He commented, "I was – am – an amateur gardener and a professional writer. My only authority came from a lifetime of gardening and a passion amounting to an obsession for my own garden."
He is a keen proponent of organic gardening and the practice of organic techniques, to some extent, features in all of his published work. The organic approach is most prominent in his 2003 book The Complete Gardener.
Don was the main presenter on BBC Two
's Gardeners' World
from 2003 to 2008 succeeding Alan Titchmarsh
. He was the first self-taught horticulturist presenter in the show's 36-year history, stepping down only after suffering a minor stroke. After viewing figures for Gardener's World fell below two million for the first time in 2009, in January 2010, changes were announced to the programme in an attempt to entice viewers back. In December 2010, it was announced that Don would be returning to the programme as lead presenter for the 2011 series, replacing Toby Buckland
. Reaction to the announcement was divided on the programme's blog. Since March 2011 he has been presenting the programme from his own garden in Herefordshire
Don featured in the BBC programme and book, Growing out of Trouble, in which several heroin addicts manage a 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) Herefordshire smallholding
in an attempt at rehabilitation. He also presented Around the World in 80 Gardens
(BBC Two 27 January - 30 March 2008) and in December 2008, narrated a programme about the cork oak
forests of Portugal, for the BBC's natural history series Natural World. He presented My Dream Farm, a series which helped people learn to become successful smallholders (Channel 4, January 2010) and Mastercrafts, a six-part series for BBC Two, which celebrated six traditional British crafts. He has twice been a panelist on the BBC's Question Time
(February 2009 and March 2010) and his family history was the subject of the fourth programme in the seventh series of the BBC genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are? (August 2010). In April 2011 Don presented Italian Gardens, a four part BBC2 series which was accompanied by the publication of a book.
In late 2008 Don became President of the Soil Association
.
, North London while Don pursued postgraduate study at the London School of Economics
, worked as waiter at Joe Allen restaurant in Covent Garden
and later as a dustman, completing two unpublished novels. Sarah trained as a jeweller.
Don has written of his struggle with depression
since the age of 25
and Seasonal Affective Disorder
. He describes in his memoir, "great spans of muddy time" in which there is nothing but depression. He noted "'Earth heals me better than any medicine". He has had cognitive behavioural therapy and took Prozac before favouring a lightbox
, now a recognised aid for Seasonal Affective Disorder
sufferers. He had peritonitis
in 2007 and a minor stroke
in 2008.
He currently lives in Ivington
, Herefordshire
, England, and has lived in Herefordshire for over 20 years.
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
, best known for presenting the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series Gardeners' World
Gardeners' World
Gardeners' World is a long-running BBC television programme about gardening that continues to this day. Its first episode was filmed in 1968, presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners' World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have...
.
Early life
Monty Don was born in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, son of Denis Don, a career soldier posted in Germany and Janet (née Wyatt). Both parents died in the 1980s. Don has a twin sister, an elder brother David, and two other siblings. His twin suffered a broken neck and blindness in a car crash, aged 19.
Both his paternal grandmother and grandfather were Scottish; he is descended from the Keiller
Keiller's marmalade
Keiller's marmalade, named after its creator Janet Keiller, is believed to have been the first commercial brand of marmalade, produced in Dundee, Scotland....
family of Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, inventors of chip marmalade
Marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits, boiled with sugar and water. The benchmark citrus fruit for marmalade production in Britain is the "Seville orange" from Spain, Citrus aurantium var...
in 1797.
Don was educated at three independent schools: Quidhampton School in Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Bigshotte School in Wokingham
Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire in South East England about west of central London. It is about east-southeast of Reading and west of Bracknell. It spans an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 30,403...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, and at Malvern College
Malvern College
Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...
in Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, a college he hated. He then attended a state comprehensive school, The Vyne School
The Vyne Community School
The Vyne Community School, Basingstoke was created out of the merger of two pre-existing schools, Queen Mary's School for Boys, Basingstoke a selective Grammar School, also known as QMSB, and Charles Chute Secondary Modern School, which occurred in 1970. Initially the school was known as Queen...
, in Hampshire. He failed his A levels and while studying for re-takes at night school, worked on a building site and a pig farm by day. During his childhood he had become an avid gardener and farmer. "Green fingers, silver tongue". Observer article 25 May 2008 He determined to go to Cambridge out of “sheer bloody-mindedness”, attending Magdalene College, where he read English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
and met his future wife Sarah.
Career
In the 1980s, Don and his wife formed a successful company that made and sold costume jewellery under the name Monty Don Jewellery. The collapse of the company in the early 1990s prompted him to embark on a career in writing and broadcasting. He has written about the rise and collapse of their business in The Jewel Garden, an autobiographical book written with his wife. “We were lambs to the slaughter and we lost everything, [...] we lost our house, our business. We sold every stick of furniture we had at LeominsterLeominster
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...
market,” he wrote. He was unemployed from 1991 to 1993.
Don's first TV work came as the presenter of a gardening segment on breakfast show This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
. He featured as a guest presenter for the BBC's Holiday
Holiday (TV series)
Holiday was a long-running UK television programme on BBC One, and was the oldest travel review show on UK television. It was aired on the channel from 1969 until 2007.-Overview:...
programme. He went on to present several Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
land and gardening series: Don Roaming, Fork to Fork, Real Gardens and Lost Gardens, and wrote a regular weekly gardening column for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
between February 1994 and May 2006. Don had never received formal training as a gardener. He commented, "I was – am – an amateur gardener and a professional writer. My only authority came from a lifetime of gardening and a passion amounting to an obsession for my own garden."
He is a keen proponent of organic gardening and the practice of organic techniques, to some extent, features in all of his published work. The organic approach is most prominent in his 2003 book The Complete Gardener.
Don was the main presenter on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Gardeners' World
Gardeners' World
Gardeners' World is a long-running BBC television programme about gardening that continues to this day. Its first episode was filmed in 1968, presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners' World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have...
from 2003 to 2008 succeeding Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...
. He was the first self-taught horticulturist presenter in the show's 36-year history, stepping down only after suffering a minor stroke. After viewing figures for Gardener's World fell below two million for the first time in 2009, in January 2010, changes were announced to the programme in an attempt to entice viewers back. In December 2010, it was announced that Don would be returning to the programme as lead presenter for the 2011 series, replacing Toby Buckland
Toby Buckland
Toby Neale Buckland is a British gardener, TV presenter and author, best known for being the main presenter from 2008-10 of BBC's long running flagship gardening programme Gardeners' World....
. Reaction to the announcement was divided on the programme's blog. Since March 2011 he has been presenting the programme from his own garden in Herefordshire
Don featured in the BBC programme and book, Growing out of Trouble, in which several heroin addicts manage a 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) Herefordshire smallholding
Smallholding
A smallholding is a farm of small size.In third world countries, smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent and farming practices become more efficient, smallholdings may persist as a legacy of...
in an attempt at rehabilitation. He also presented Around the World in 80 Gardens
Around the World in 80 Gardens
Around the World in 80 Gardens was a television series of 10 programmes in which British gardener and broadcaster Monty Don visited 80 of the world's most celebrated gardens. The series was filmed over a period of 18 months and was first broadcast on BBC Two at 9.00pm on successive Sundays from 27...
(BBC Two 27 January - 30 March 2008) and in December 2008, narrated a programme about the cork oak
Cork Oak
Quercus suber, commonly called the Cork Oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.It grows to up to 20 m,...
forests of Portugal, for the BBC's natural history series Natural World. He presented My Dream Farm, a series which helped people learn to become successful smallholders (Channel 4, January 2010) and Mastercrafts, a six-part series for BBC Two, which celebrated six traditional British crafts. He has twice been a panelist on the BBC's Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
(February 2009 and March 2010) and his family history was the subject of the fourth programme in the seventh series of the BBC genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are? (August 2010). In April 2011 Don presented Italian Gardens, a four part BBC2 series which was accompanied by the publication of a book.
In late 2008 Don became President of the Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
.
Personal life
He and Sarah married in 1983, and have three children, Adam, Freya and Tom. The couple lived in IslingtonIslington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, North London while Don pursued postgraduate study at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, worked as waiter at Joe Allen restaurant in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
and later as a dustman, completing two unpublished novels. Sarah trained as a jeweller.
Don has written of his struggle with depression
Depression
Depression or depress may refer to:-Medicine:* Depression , a state of low mood and aversion to activity** Mood disorder, a class of mental illnesses featuring depressed mood...
since the age of 25
and Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal affective disorder
Seasonal affective disorder , also known as winter depression, winter blues, summer depression, summer blues, or seasonal depression, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer, spring or autumn...
. He describes in his memoir, "great spans of muddy time" in which there is nothing but depression. He noted "'Earth heals me better than any medicine". He has had cognitive behavioural therapy and took Prozac before favouring a lightbox
Lightbox
Lightbox may refer to:* Various backlit viewing devices:** A container with several lightbulbs and a pane of frosted glass on the top. It is used by photography professionals viewing translucent films, such as slides. This device was originally used to sort photographic plates with ease. It is also...
, now a recognised aid for Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal affective disorder
Seasonal affective disorder , also known as winter depression, winter blues, summer depression, summer blues, or seasonal depression, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer, spring or autumn...
sufferers. He had peritonitis
Peritonitis
Peritonitis is an inflammation of the peritoneum, the serous membrane that lines part of the abdominal cavity and viscera. Peritonitis may be localised or generalised, and may result from infection or from a non-infectious process.-Abdominal pain and tenderness:The main manifestations of...
in 2007 and a minor stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in 2008.
He currently lives in Ivington
Ivington
Ivington is a village in the county of Herefordshire, England, approximately 13 miles north of Hereford. It is about 2 miles south-west of its post town Leominster. Ivington has a small church dedicated to St...
, Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, England, and has lived in Herefordshire for over 20 years.
Publications
- 1990: The Prickotty Bush
- 1995: The Weekend Gardener
- 1997: The Sensuous Garden
- 1998: Gardening Mad
- 2003: The Complete Gardener
- 2003: From the Garden to the Table: Growing, Cooking, and Eating Your Own Food
- 2004: The Jewel Garden (Hodder & Stoughton), with Sarah Don
- 2005: Gardening From Berryfields
- 2006: Fork to Fork
- 2006: Growing out of Trouble
- 2006: My Roots: A Decade in the Garden
- 2008: Around the World in 80 GardensAround the World in 80 GardensAround the World in 80 Gardens was a television series of 10 programmes in which British gardener and broadcaster Monty Don visited 80 of the world's most celebrated gardens. The series was filmed over a period of 18 months and was first broadcast on BBC Two at 9.00pm on successive Sundays from 27...
- 2009: The Ivington Diaries
- 2010: My Dream Farm
- 2011: Italian Gardens