Percy Thrower
Encyclopedia
Percy John Thrower MBE
(30 January 1913 – 18 March 1988) was a British gardener, horticulturist, broadcaster
and writer born at Horwood House
in the village of Little Horwood
in Buckinghamshire
.
He became nationally known through presenting various gardening programmes, starting in 1956 on the BBC
's Gardening Club then later on the BBC's Gardeners' World
from 1969 until 1976. He has been described as "Britain's first celebrity gardener", although that accolade is often accorded to C. H. Middleton who was a significant figure before and during the Second World War.
, where Percy’s father worked as a gardener at Bawdsey Manor
, Suffolk
, before moving to Horwood House
near Bletchley (now part of Milton Keynes
) in Buckinghamshire
as head gardener
. Percy Thrower was determined from an early age to be a head gardener like his father, and worked under him at Horwood House for the first four years after leaving school. He then became a journeyman
gardener in 1931, at the age of 18, at the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle
, on £1 a week. He lived in the bothy
at Windsor, along with 20 other improver gardeners and disabled ex-servicemen who were employed on full wages. The bothy housed only single men and if you "had" to get married you lost your job. He spent five years there under the head gardener, Charles Cook, who was subsequently to become his father-in-law
.
Thrower left Windsor on 1 August 1935 for the City of Leeds
Parks Department as a journeyman. There he passed the Royal Horticultural Society
’s General Exam. In 1937 he moved to Derby
Parks Department, initially as a journeyman but was promoted to be a foreman, General Foreman and finally the Assistant Parks Superintendent. At Derby, he met John Maxfield, who he considered to be the best gardener he ever worked under; Maxfield died a couple of years later, but remained a large influence. Percy studied and passed the National Diploma in Horticulture
(N.D.H.) at the second attempt, and also became a lecturer at Derby Technical College.
He became engaged to Connie Cook (Constance Margaret Ina), the daughter of Charles Cook, who was now the head gardener at Sandringham
, having moved from Windsor. Things had not gone well for Charles Cook at Windsor, where Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson had interfered with the running of the gardens. In order to help him, Queen Mary
, who was now in residence at Sandringham after the death of her husband George V
, instigated his moving from Windsor to Sandringham. On 9 September 1939, at Sandringham
, Percy and Connie married. The couple received a wedding gift of a set of Burslem
china dishes from Queen Mary
. Percy's own father died on 31 December 1939.
While at Derby, Thrower became a leading light in the "Dig for Victory" campaign in the Second World War, carrying out educational visits to many of the local parks and even Derby Sewerage Works.. Percy became a special constable on fire-watching duties after twice being turned down for active service after volunteering. In fact, he saved the life of a fellow firewatcher by pushing him out of the way of a falling tree which had come crashing down after a bomb fell near it. It was whilst at Derby that Percy had a football pools
win of £52 which enabled him to buy his first motor car which was a Morris Eight
for which he paid £45.
His final career move was to Shrewsbury
in 1946, as the Parks Superintendent, becoming the youngest parks superintendent. He had a staff of about 35. He had reached the top of his profession at just 32 years of age and it was his sole ambition in life. He expected to stay only four or five years, but in fact remained in post until 1974.
In 1951 Percy Thrower was asked to design a garden in Berlin
on the lines of an English garden on behalf of the Shropshire
Horticultural Society, and he did this with the Berlin Superintendent of Parks, Herr Witte. Anthony Eden
opened the garden in May 1952. Thrower made his first TV appearance in 1951 in a programme, Picture Page about this garden.
with inspiring him to take up gardening.
Godfrey Baseley
, the presenter of a Midland regional BBC radio
programme, Beyond the Back Door, spotted his enthusiasm and talents and he was offered a regular slot on the programme. The first TV series with which he was associated was Country Calendar, followed by Out and About. When colour television came along, this programme was renamed Gardeners' World. He became nationally known through presenting these programmes and regularly presented Gardeners' World from 1969 until 1976.
He was also the gardener on the children's programme Blue Peter
from 1974 until 1987, appearing in over 100 broadcasts, making him the longest-serving Blue Peter gardener. One of his best remembered achievements was establishing the Blue Peter garden at BBC TV Centre, persuading numerous celebrities to give up a few hours every week to work in it.
In 1983, the Italianite garden was destroyed by vandals, ruining all of Thrower's work and leaving him desolate. A tabloid journalist later approached one of the purported vandals with a picture of a sobbing Thrower, asking him how he felt.
In 1963 he built his own house near Shrewsbury
, called "The Magnolias", on land he acquired with a friend in the small village of Merrington
, 6 miles (9.7 km) north west of Shrewsbury. This gave him a garden of about one and a half acres to "play with", something which he had never had before. The garden subsequently became the location for some of the episodes of Gardeners' World. He opened the garden to the public in 1966, and this became an annual event to raise money for charity.
In 1967 he became involved with the development of what was one of the first garden centres, Syon Park, near Brentford
, Middlesex
, owned by the Duke of Northumberland
and backed by Plant Protection, a division of ICI
, who had leased 50 acres (202,343 m²) from the Duke. The centre was a success at first but then sales tailed off and Thrower left the project. In 1970, in partnership with Duncan Murphy, he bought the firm of Murrell's of Shrewsbury and turned it into the Percy Thrower Garden Centre.
He retired in 1974 from the post of Superintendent of Parks as Shrewsbury and started a weekly column for the Daily Mail
in 1975. He also wrote for several other papers, notably the Daily Express
and the Sunday Express. He wrote for the magazine Amateur Gardening
and also wrote many books, which were published by Collingbridge and later Hamlyn
.
The BBC summarily dropped Thrower when in 1975 he agreed to a contract with Plant Protection, a subsidiary of ICI, for a series of commercials. He did this in the full knowledge of what the repercussions would be with the BBC, and later said it was the best contract he ever signed.
As a television personality he appeared with Morecambe and Wise
(1971) and Benny Hill
. He was also the subject of a "This is Your Life
" programme in 1976.
In 1976 he gave a lecture to the Royal Institution
titled "Changing Fashions in Gardening", and in 1977 wrote his memoirs, titled My Lifetime of Gardening. The same year the Royal Horticultural Society
awarded their highest honour, the Victoria Medal of Honour
, to him. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) in 1984.
He also became involved in hosting gardening tours in Europe, with travel agent Harold Sleigh. They established the Percy Thrower Floral Tours Company, chartering ships for lecture cruises and was also involved in English Gardening Weekends. On one of these he was taken ill, and a decline in his health set in. Eventually Hodgkin’s disease
was diagnosed. He made his last recording for Blue Peter from hospital one week before he died in the Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton
on 18 March 1988 and was buried in Leaton Church near Bomere Heath, Shropshire where he lived.
of which he had several in succession, which was something that he always wanted to have since he went duck shooting with his maternal grandfather, who had a black Labrador as a gun dog
. Dogs were even welcome in his garden centre.
, West Midlands
(historically within Staffordshire
), aged 75.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(30 January 1913 – 18 March 1988) was a British gardener, horticulturist, broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and writer born at Horwood House
Horwood House
Horwood House lies south east of the village of Little Horwood in Buckinghamshire. This mansion is a comparatively modern house, built in 1911, the date being embossed into the gutter hopper-heads...
in the village of Little Horwood
Little Horwood
Little Horwood is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about four miles ESE of Buckingham and two miles north east of Winslow....
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.
He became nationally known through presenting various gardening programmes, starting in 1956 on 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...
's Gardening Club then later on the BBC'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 1969 until 1976. He has been described as "Britain's first celebrity gardener", although that accolade is often accorded to C. H. Middleton who was a significant figure before and during the Second World War.
Career as gardener
The name Thrower means someone who twists the fibre – properly wool – into thread or yarn. This term is peculiar to East AngliaEast Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, where Percy’s father worked as a gardener at Bawdsey Manor
Bawdsey Manor
Bawdsey Manor stands at a prominent position at the mouth of the River Deben close to the village of Bawdsey in Suffolk, England, about 118 km northeast of London....
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, before moving to Horwood House
Horwood House
Horwood House lies south east of the village of Little Horwood in Buckinghamshire. This mansion is a comparatively modern house, built in 1911, the date being embossed into the gutter hopper-heads...
near Bletchley (now part of Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
) in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
as head gardener
Head gardener
The head gardener or as a Master Gardener is an individual who manages the staff of a large garden, landscape or park, such as a residential garden, botanical garden, theme park, public park, museum or roadside embankments and islands....
. Percy Thrower was determined from an early age to be a head gardener like his father, and worked under him at Horwood House for the first four years after leaving school. He then became a journeyman
Journeyman
A journeyman is someone who completed an apprenticeship and was fully educated in a trade or craft, but not yet a master. To become a master, a journeyman had to submit a master work piece to a guild for evaluation and be admitted to the guild as a master....
gardener in 1931, at the age of 18, at the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
, on £1 a week. He lived in the bothy
Bothy
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are to be found in remote, mountainous areas of Scotland, northern England, Ireland, and Wales....
at Windsor, along with 20 other improver gardeners and disabled ex-servicemen who were employed on full wages. The bothy housed only single men and if you "had" to get married you lost your job. He spent five years there under the head gardener, Charles Cook, who was subsequently to become his father-in-law
Father-in-law
A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship...
.
Thrower left Windsor on 1 August 1935 for the City of Leeds
City of Leeds
The City of Leeds is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Leeds City Council, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. The metropolitan district includes Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell,...
Parks Department as a journeyman. There he passed the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
’s General Exam. In 1937 he moved to Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
Parks Department, initially as a journeyman but was promoted to be a foreman, General Foreman and finally the Assistant Parks Superintendent. At Derby, he met John Maxfield, who he considered to be the best gardener he ever worked under; Maxfield died a couple of years later, but remained a large influence. Percy studied and passed the National Diploma in Horticulture
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...
(N.D.H.) at the second attempt, and also became a lecturer at Derby Technical College.
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
, having moved from Windsor. Things had not gone well for Charles Cook at Windsor, where Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson had interfered with the running of the gardens. In order to help him, Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
, who was now in residence at Sandringham after the death of her husband George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, instigated his moving from Windsor to Sandringham. On 9 September 1939, at Sandringham
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
, Percy and Connie married. The couple received a wedding gift of a set of Burslem
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...
china dishes from Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
. Percy's own father died on 31 December 1939.
While at Derby, Thrower became a leading light in the "Dig for Victory" campaign in the Second World War, carrying out educational visits to many of the local parks and even Derby Sewerage Works.. Percy became a special constable on fire-watching duties after twice being turned down for active service after volunteering. In fact, he saved the life of a fellow firewatcher by pushing him out of the way of a falling tree which had come crashing down after a bomb fell near it. It was whilst at Derby that Percy had a football pools
Football pools
A football pool, often collectively referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of top-level association football matches set to take place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, with the potential to win huge money. Entries were traditionally...
win of £52 which enabled him to buy his first motor car which was a Morris Eight
Morris Eight
The Morris Eight was a small car inspired by the sales popularity of the similarly shaped Ford Model Y. The success of the car enabled Morris to regain its position as Britain's largest motor manufacturer.-Morris Eight Series I:...
for which he paid £45.
His final career move was to Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
in 1946, as the Parks Superintendent, becoming the youngest parks superintendent. He had a staff of about 35. He had reached the top of his profession at just 32 years of age and it was his sole ambition in life. He expected to stay only four or five years, but in fact remained in post until 1974.
In 1951 Percy Thrower was asked to design a garden in Berlin
Berlin
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...
on the lines of an English garden on behalf of the Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
Horticultural Society, and he did this with the Berlin Superintendent of Parks, Herr Witte. Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
opened the garden in May 1952. Thrower made his first TV appearance in 1951 in a programme, Picture Page about this garden.
Broadcasting and business ventures
For many years Percy Thrower was the leading face and voice of British gardening on television and radio. He was credited by Alan TitchmarshAlan 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...
with inspiring him to take up gardening.
Godfrey Baseley
Godfrey Baseley
Godfrey Baseley , was a radio executive, who is most famous as being the creator of the soap opera The Archers....
, the presenter of a Midland regional BBC radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
programme, Beyond the Back Door, spotted his enthusiasm and talents and he was offered a regular slot on the programme. The first TV series with which he was associated was Country Calendar, followed by Out and About. When colour television came along, this programme was renamed Gardeners' World. He became nationally known through presenting these programmes and regularly presented Gardeners' World from 1969 until 1976.
He was also the gardener on the children's programme Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
from 1974 until 1987, appearing in over 100 broadcasts, making him the longest-serving Blue Peter gardener. One of his best remembered achievements was establishing the Blue Peter garden at BBC TV Centre, persuading numerous celebrities to give up a few hours every week to work in it.
In 1983, the Italianite garden was destroyed by vandals, ruining all of Thrower's work and leaving him desolate. A tabloid journalist later approached one of the purported vandals with a picture of a sobbing Thrower, asking him how he felt.
In 1963 he built his own house near Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, called "The Magnolias", on land he acquired with a friend in the small village of Merrington
Merrington, Shropshire
Merrington is a small village in Shropshire, England. It is situated to the north of the larger village of Bomere Heath and lies in the parish of Pimhill. Nearby, to the west, is the hamlet of Old Woods.-History and attractions:...
, 6 miles (9.7 km) north west of Shrewsbury. This gave him a garden of about one and a half acres to "play with", something which he had never had before. The garden subsequently became the location for some of the episodes of Gardeners' World. He opened the garden to the public in 1966, and this became an annual event to raise money for charity.
In 1967 he became involved with the development of what was one of the first garden centres, Syon Park, near Brentford
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent, west-southwest of Charing Cross. Its former ceremonial county was Middlesex.-Toponymy:...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, owned by the Duke of Northumberland
Duke of Northumberland
The Duke of Northumberland is a title in the peerage of Great Britain that has been created several times. Since the third creation in 1766, the title has belonged to the House of Percy , which held the title of Earl of Northumberland from 1377....
and backed by Plant Protection, a division of ICI
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
, who had leased 50 acres (202,343 m²) from the Duke. The centre was a success at first but then sales tailed off and Thrower left the project. In 1970, in partnership with Duncan Murphy, he bought the firm of Murrell's of Shrewsbury and turned it into the Percy Thrower Garden Centre.
He retired in 1974 from the post of Superintendent of Parks as Shrewsbury and started a weekly column for the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
in 1975. He also wrote for several other papers, notably the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
and the Sunday Express. He wrote for the magazine Amateur Gardening
Amateur Gardening (magazine)
Amateur Gardening is a British magazine dedicated to gardening, including news, advice, feature articles and celebrity columns and interviews.Famous writers for the weekly magazine have included Alan Titchmarsh - who also worked there as deputy editor;...
and also wrote many books, which were published by Collingbridge and later Hamlyn
Hamlyn (publishers)
Hamlyn is a UK publishing company founded by Paul Hamlyn in 1950 with an initial investment of £350. His desire was to create "fine books with the common touch" which remains the foundation of its commercial success...
.
The BBC summarily dropped Thrower when in 1975 he agreed to a contract with Plant Protection, a subsidiary of ICI, for a series of commercials. He did this in the full knowledge of what the repercussions would be with the BBC, and later said it was the best contract he ever signed.
As a television personality he appeared with Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
(1971) and Benny Hill
The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...
. He was also the subject of a "This is Your Life
This Is Your Life (UK TV series)
This Is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same name. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987 aged 64...
" programme in 1976.
In 1976 he gave a lecture to the Royal Institution
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
titled "Changing Fashions in Gardening", and in 1977 wrote his memoirs, titled My Lifetime of Gardening. The same year the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
awarded their highest honour, the Victoria Medal of Honour
Medal of Honour
The Medal of Honour is part of the honours system in Hong Kong. It was created in 1997 to replace the British honours system after the transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China and the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region...
, to him. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(MBE) in 1984.
He also became involved in hosting gardening tours in Europe, with travel agent Harold Sleigh. They established the Percy Thrower Floral Tours Company, chartering ships for lecture cruises and was also involved in English Gardening Weekends. On one of these he was taken ill, and a decline in his health set in. Eventually Hodgkin’s disease
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma, previously known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes...
was diagnosed. He made his last recording for Blue Peter from hospital one week before he died in the Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
on 18 March 1988 and was buried in Leaton Church near Bomere Heath, Shropshire where he lived.
Personal life
Percy and Connie had three daughters: Margaret born 1944, Susan born 1948, Ann born 1952. They were all involved with the Percy Thrower Garden Centre. Percy always had a constant companion and that was a black LabradorLabrador Retriever
The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...
of which he had several in succession, which was something that he always wanted to have since he went duck shooting with his maternal grandfather, who had a black Labrador as a gun dog
Gun dog
thumb|right|A group of Gun dogs as printed in Dogs of All Nations by W.E. Mason in 1915Gun dogs, also gundogs or bird dogs, are types of dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game, usually birds. Gun dogs are divided into three primary types: Retrievers, flushing dogs, and...
. Dogs were even welcome in his garden centre.
Death
He died in WolverhamptonWolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
(historically within Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
), aged 75.