As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Tue, 13 May 2014 18:38:41 +0100,
Sacha wrote:


[ Leafnode: ]
[ Message 1030 of uk.rec.gardening ]
[ has been marked for download. ]


--
GnuPG/OpenPGP 4096R/3216CF02 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]
sub 4096R/2751C550 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]

"Martin" wrote

The number of viewers of the Big Allotment programme has fallen to 1.7
million.
We told them so!



Talking with the lady on the next allotment to ours on Sunday morning she
asked if I'd watched it, I said I watched 10 mins of the first episode,
could not believe my eyes, and turned it off. She said she did exactly the
same and she is one that pickles, freezes, and preserves everything, does
not waste a thing. She continued whilst on her knees weeding," what has a
pristine plot ready to work got to do with any allotment you take over, and
who has a greenhouse on their plot with glass left in it, and what on earth
were those two ladies wearing besides the full makeup".
We both agreed the program has absolutely nothing to do with allotments in
real life. I do hope we do not get a crop of new plot holders on the
strength of it, they will be asking when the plot will be cleared and dug
and when the greenhouse will be delivered.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

FrankB wrote:

I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.

Now that we can watch Beechgrove, I have to agree with all those
who have posted here about it being a far better programme.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On 14/05/2014 03:06, FrankB wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.



Watching Susanna Reid frowning, squinting, and looking thoroughly out of
sorts, makes you wonder whether these media companies think at all.

On 2014-05-13 20:47:13 +0000, Martin said:

On Tue, 13 May 2014 18:38:41 +0100, Sacha wrote:

As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!

I assume you read the Daily Telegraph's report too.

OTOH Alan said he wouldn't mention Monty's lack of training. :-)

It's bit more complicated than just the BBC pushing Alan out of the job. Alan
refused the job, but doesn't say why.

The number of viewers of the Big Allotment programme has fallen to 1.7 million.
We told them so!

He says in another report that he couldn't accept being asked to play
second fiddle to Monty Don after years of being THE anchor for RHS
Chelsea for the BBC. He didn't use those exact words but that is the
gist of it. It was a humiliation too far, would seem to be the case.
As it is, it's freed him up to enter a Show Garden of his own!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2014-05-14 02:06:38 +0000, FrankB said:

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

The matter of which presenter one prefers is very much up to the
individual but this isn't really about that. It's about the BBC's
handling of the situation. They've recently made a big blunder over a
Radio Devon presenter of 32 years' standing and this sort of treatment
of respected figures does the Beeb no favours at all.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2014-05-14 07:46:51 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 03:06:38 +0100, "FrankB" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good

It was good if you like to see Monty's face in the foreground of every shot.

Several programmes have visited Villa d'Este. All of them did a better job than
Monty.

and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

Sad that you see the presence of a female presenter like that.

In recent years there have always been female presenters too and why not?

I have no problem with female presenters but I do wish that whoever
they choose, of whichever gender, they'd get people who know something
about the subject. The comment that Sophie Raworth's parents have a
large garden they open to the public made us just roar with laughter.
I'm sure she's a delightful person but does she know *anything* about
the billion pound producing world of horticulture? No. When Carol
Klein interviews nurserymen, she does so on an equal footing and it
shows. Someone asking what is that pretty pink thing? "It's a rose,
dear", really isn't going to do it for most of us. (Yes, I exaggerate
a little. I hope) Some years ago this garden was on local television
and instead of asking Ray to talk about plants, propagation or even the
garden, the director was most interested in getting him to think of the
longest Latin plant name he could. Serious stuff, eh? We've entered a
phase - and I pray it's a passing one - where gardening is treated as
some little pastime for genteel folk of a certain age. These people
have absolutely no idea what depth of interest there is and also what
serious money is spent.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2014-05-14 10:35:05 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 11:16:04 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-05-13 20:47:13 +0000, Martin said:

On Tue, 13 May 2014 18:38:41 +0100, Sacha wrote:

As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!

I assume you read the Daily Telegraph's report too.

OTOH Alan said he wouldn't mention Monty's lack of training. :-)

It's bit more complicated than just the BBC pushing Alan out of the job. Alan
refused the job, but doesn't say why.

The number of viewers of the Big Allotment programme has fallen to 1.7 million.
We told them so!

He says in another report that he couldn't accept being asked to play
second fiddle to Monty Don after years of being THE anchor for RHS
Chelsea for the BBC.

As usual my wife guessed right.

He didn't use those exact words but that is the
gist of it. It was a humiliation too far, would seem to be the case.
As it is, it's freed him up to enter a Show Garden of his own!

and be interviewed by Monty! LOL

Against whom he will not hold his lack of horticultural training. I
thought that was a very neat comment, politely chastising the Beeb for
its churlish behaviour!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2014-05-14 10:33:33 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 11:24:48 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-05-14 07:46:51 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 03:06:38 +0100, "FrankB" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good

It was good if you like to see Monty's face in the foreground of every shot.

Several programmes have visited Villa d'Este. All of them did a better job than
Monty.

and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

Sad that you see the presence of a female presenter like that.

In recent years there have always been female presenters too and why not?

I have no problem with female presenters but I do wish that whoever
they choose, of whichever gender, they'd get people who know something
about the subject.

I think the BBC's idea is to have somebody, who represents the man/woman in the
street and "experts".

That may be their idea but why can't 'the man in the street' also be a
horticultural expert? AT does have that gift of talking as if chatting
to a neighbour over the fence. But at the same time, he really knowss
his subject. If I wanted to watch an informative programme on
open-heart surgery, I don't want it 'explained' to me by a tv presenter
but by an expert on the matter. They don't get e.g. Sophie Raworth to
take over from David Attenborough. They let him - the real expert - do
his own talking and presenting.

I think it would make a good gardening series if they went round the
country to e.g. a dozen of the NGS properties open every year BUT with
a knowledgeable designer and/or horticulturist talking to the garden
owners and some of the visitors. Perhaps then the BBC would realise
the passionate interest so many people have in plants and gardens and
how much they like to learn about them.

It's good to have somebody who isn't overawed by the names of garden designers.
There's a lot of Emperor's New Clothes at Chelsea.

The comment that Sophie Raworth's parents have a
large garden they open to the public made us just roar with laughter.
I'm sure she's a delightful person but does she know *anything* about
the billion pound producing world of horticulture? No. When Carol
Klein interviews nurserymen, she does so on an equal footing and it
shows. Someone asking what is that pretty pink thing? "It's a rose,
dear", really isn't going to do it for most of us. (Yes, I exaggerate
a little. I hope) Some years ago this garden was on local television
and instead of asking Ray to talk about plants, propagation or even the
garden, the director was most interested in getting him to think of the
longest Latin plant name he could. Serious stuff, eh? We've entered a
phase - and I pray it's a passing one - where gardening is treated as
some little pastime for genteel folk of a certain age. These people
have absolutely no idea what depth of interest there is and also what
serious money is spent.

Better get your children to change their Christian names to things like Rose,
Blossom, Rambler ... if you want them to become presenters.

Rambler...good name for a labrador! I think not for the children! ;-)


--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Martin wrote:

Better get your children to change their Christian names to things like Rose,
Blossom, Rambler ... if you want them to become presenters.

We'd better prepare for
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0917320/
then. ;-)

BTW what are Nicki Chapman's horticultural credentials, apart
from being inflicted upon us annually?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
FrankB wrote:

I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's
fault.

Now that we can watch Beechgrove, I have to agree with all those
who have posted here about it being a far better programme.

Not watched that yet but I'll catch up with it sometime soon.

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 15:11:51 +0100, "FrankB" wrote:

"Chris J Dixon" wrote

Now that we can watch Beechgrove, I have to agree with all those
who have posted here about it being a far better programme.

Not watched that yet but I'll catch up with it sometime soon.

Thursday evenings on BBC2 Scotland or Sunday mornings at 8am on BBC2

The Sunday times vary a bit, but it is usually 9:30, just after
the GW repeat.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Martin wrote:

On Thu, 15 May 2014 07:56:29 +0100, Chris J Dixon wrote:

The Sunday times vary a bit, but it is usually 9:30, just after
the GW repeat.

You are right! AFAIR it was 8am when I looked a few weeks ago.

Sporting coverage and other events often cause a shuffle, so I
have to check the PVR setting every week.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.