"Cat" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:53:35 -0000, "Des Higgins"
wrote:


I think it is like a "who was your favourite Doctor Who?" type argument.
We all have fond memories of particular eras and individuals and forget
the
bad bits.
Geoff Hamilton was in place just as gardening went into super show
business
mode in the mid 1990s and many people remember him as a cross between
mother
Theresa and Indiana Jones. I certainly have fond memories of Gardeners
World from dem days but that is a mixture of Geoff's personality (warm,
comforting, knowledgeable) and the fact that I was not super-saturated
with
TV garden makeoverology at the time. Everyone since Geoff will look cheap
and nasty, no matter who they are. I certainly do find many garden TV
people irritating but that is partly because the entire genre has become
irritating. Somewhere out there a producer is dreamimg up a
reality-TV-garden-makeover-save-the-children-pop-idol-aid program which
will
be hosted by Ant and Dec.

Apart from all that, speaking purely subjectively and persoanally, Gay
search was one of the better presenters and I actually like Monty Don a
lot
and Titchmarch is very very good but got over-exposed (as he probably
realises himself). Diarmuid Gavin is a bit of fun; I take great delight
in
finding people who dislike him because he does not tell you how many ponds
per square foot of hoof and horn to use as a top dressing in late Spring
for
boosting leeks. Rachel de Thame has a clear accent and is very
eye-catching
but somehow Diarmuid standing in a huge muddy hole in the ground with
three
hairy builders from sligo balancing a 19 tonne brass sphere is more
entertaining to me.

Des Higgins




Well well well, so this is where you're hiding Desmond? Can't say I
blame you...
Anyhoo, I have yet to hear anyone mentioning Reg Moule... Long before
TV gardening was fashionable, he was advising the nation (including
our nation, that is) on what to do this month in the garden. He was
as dull as ditchwater, and yet strangely fascinating. And probably
quite informative.
I see here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire.../january.shtml
- that he is "BBC's Gloucestershire Gardening Guru"... and that he's
still on the go. I just loved his accent. What do the experts here
make of him?

And what about our own (Irish) Gerry Daly? That man's voice is the
very call of rutting mulsh during the mating season. I derive endless
joy listening to his programme on RTE Radio 1, where listeners can ask
just about any question. I just love the differences in approaches of
Gerry and his various panelists. Joe Bloggs rings with a massive
ground elder infestation... Panelist 1 sends him to the garden centre
for some Roundup, while Gerry tututs the nonsense of it all,
ascertains the size of the border concerned, and if it is anything
less than a square mile, advises the man how to dig it up with a good
spade...


Holey Saint Imelda, I forgot him. I find his voice a bit dreary. He can
describe a field of poppies in early Summer with exactly the same voice he
would use to describe a root infection and even using similar sentences. He
knows what he is talking about though. Helen Dillon it is all round so far
in this thread.



I agree with you on Diarmuid Gavin. He is cheeky, but truly
inspirational, and hugely entertaining, because he doesn't take
himself too seriously. I also love the hunk of a project manager Sean
Cunningham (droolll) for the same reason as I enjoy watching Monty Don
(he can grow me a few courgettes anytime he chooses).

For all the important technical stuff, the fact is that the reason
some of us are glued to garden tv shows, is because the presenters are
entertaining. I love ground force, not because I learn much through
it, but because I love the banter between Titchmarch, Dimmock and the
luscious Tommy Walsh :-)
If I need tech advice, I check my RHS books, I google, and I ask
questions of the wonderfully helpful U.R.G. denizens...
Though I must say I am quite amused to read some finding fault with
some tv garden show presenters not on technical grounds, nor on
grounds of entertainment value, but on ground of ACCENT? Hello? Who
cares about the accent, so long as you can understand what is being
said? I can't think of a single presenter I am having trouble
understanding.









Cat(h)
The world swirls...