Only Dad

2 May 1949

Alan Titchmarsh MBE VMH DL was born and raised on the edge of Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire. He left school at 15 to be an apprentice gardener in the local nursery, then trained at horticultural college and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. After a spell as Supervisor of Staff Training at Kew he became a horticultural journalist, then a freelance broadcaster and writer. Alan has written gardening books, several fiction best sellers, and his memoirs. Alan has appeared on radio and television both as a gardening expert and as an interviewer and presenter. Among others, Alan’s TV credits include: BBC2's 'Gardeners' World'; 'Ground Force'; 'How To Be A Gardener'; 'The Royal Gardeners'; 'British Isles -…