Archive June 1, 2025

Alan Titchmarsh, an ITV presenter and gardening expert since 1979, has opened up about his long career and says there is “a lot to be grateful for.”

Alan Titchmarsh has candidly reflected on his illustrious career and acknowledges he has “a lot to be grateful for”.

The adored TV personality, who first appeared on television in 1979, has a resume full of programs like Ground Force, Gardeners’ World, and Alan Titchmarsh Show.

At 76, the Yorkshire-born presenter reminisced about his initial steps in the limelight. He’s lent his expertise to BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours and The Today Programme as a gardening guru, and, even before fame, he edited gardening books and penned his own.

However, Alan, who is from Ilkley, West Riding, claimed that “many people don’t realize how difficult life was in Yorkshire in the 1950s.” He acknowledges that his early life was fueled by his desire for “realistic aspirations.”

When Alan left school, he started working as an apprentice gardener for Ilkley Council with just one O Level. His love of plants led to a coveted position at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew as a result of his studies at the Hertfordshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture.

Alan made this clear statement in a frank interview with Saga magazine: “There seemed no point in having any.”

He politely stated, “I will have a lot to be grateful for if it all ends tomorrow.” Although I’m only a few years old when I’m on the box, I’m still doing new things and having my hair.

Currently embracing digital trends with recent ventures into YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, Alan is keen to “give people their money’s worth”. With a sense of gratitude, he comments on feeling “blessed” to prolong his tenure in media.

Alan recently admitted to having stopped working on Fridays and occasionally even on Mondays, and that he has been working less on his workload.

When asked about taking a step back, he said, “You can’t get it back, but it’s the old cliché,” referring to the time you can spend with loved ones. You think, “Oh crumbs!,” when my oldest grandchild just turned 13 years old. I’m now a teenager with a grandchild.

They have two daughters, Polly and Camilla, and are proud grandparents of four, along with his wife Ali, to whom he has been married for more than 50 years. Alan enjoys the work that keeps coming his way despite not anticipating such a jam-packed schedule at his age.

The cherished television gardener is set to grace our screens again this week with Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh. Scheduled for 9.30am on ITV One, the show will feature guests Anita Dobson, Tom Allen, and Amol Rajan.

The former Love Island star and her loving parents, Danny Dyer and Joanna Mas, have already tied the knot.

At their private wedding over the weekend, Dani Dyer and her West Ham football player boyfriend Jarrod Bowen tied the knot. Dani had a broken heart before finding her forever love, so her mother rushed in to comfort the reality TV star because she feared she would end her life.

The Love Island alum, 28, and Jarrod, 28, went public with their relationship in December 2021 and have looked loved up on social media ever since. They welcomed their twin girls, Summer and Star, in May 2023, while Dani also shares her son Santiago, four, with her ex Sammy Kimmence.

When Jarrod proposed during a romantic boat trip to Ibiza in July 2024, the question was posed. They performed the vows in front of their loved ones at the five-star Langley Hotel in Buckinghamshire on Saturday, May 31.

Before talking about a former heartache she experienced when she was 19 and realized she was only 7 stone lighter, Dani described her happiness with Jarrod as her forever companion. Every night in her bed, her mother, Joanna Mas, slept in her bed because she was concerned about her taking her own life.

READ MORE: Inside Dani Dyer and Jarrod Bowen’s wedding – from sister’s moving speech to £10k dress

Previously speaking about this time in her book, What Would Dani Do?, she revealed just how close she is with her adoring mum, despite her EastEnders star father, Danny Dyer, being the one in the spotlight.

In an extract published by The Sun on her young heartache, Dani said: “I wasn’t really eating, I wasn’t sleeping very well and I’d lost a lot of weight – I was seven stone and really skinny.

I was unable to exert any effort. Every single night, my mother and I slept together. She claimed she detested hearing her daughter cry herself to sleep.

She continued, “Mum seriously thought I might take my own life at one point because I was so miserable and unable to stop crying.”

Dani claims that, before eventually going to see a doctor on her mother’s advice, she would stay alone in her room and avoid talking to anyone for days. She saw a therapist after receiving antidepressants, which she took for about six months.

She acknowledged in retrospect that she was “feeling damaged” from such a protracted and emotional relationship.

Dani opened up about her relationship with her mother while talking about having children in the future during her time on Love Island in 2018. She once said, “I want her to be able to tell me everything.” how my mother and I are.

I want her to be able to follow her instructions, be open to her, and have the assurance that I will always give her the best advice. She continued, “My mother is strict. She’s also my best friend, “”

Over the weekend, Dani’s loving parents extended their full support to Jarrod. The bride reportedly stayed with her parents, Danny and Jo, on the day of the wedding, but Daniel chose to go for a less formal engagement.

For the pastel-themed ceremony, the bride and groom and all their guests were elegant, but Dani’s gown stole the show as she walked down the aisle. According to The Sun, Dani’s parents paid for the staggering £10,000 that Suzanne Neville’s white off-the-shoulder gown by British designer Suzanne Neville cost.

It was a family affair, as her former Mick Carter actor dad, 47, walked her down the aisle while her two-year-old twin daughters, Summer and Star, were flower girls. Her son, Santiago, who has an adorable nickname for his stepdad, was a page boy alongside Dani’s brother, Arty, 11. Dani’s younger sister Sunnie, 18, also had a very special speech lined up for the big day.

According to MailOnline, Sunnie shared a sweet poem at the ceremony. Sunnie read a poem from ‘Sex and The City’ wedding scene, which went: ‘His hello was the end of her endings. Her laugh was their first step down the aisle. His hand would be hers to hold forever. His forever was as simple as her smile. He said she was what was missing. She said instantly she knew. She was a question to be answered. And his answer was “I do”.’

READ MORE: Rochelle Humes wows in £35 Next jumper that’s ‘perfect for this time of year’