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