The gardening presenter and author on knees, saying ‘Love you’, and losing his business
Born in Germany, Monty Don, 62, was raised in Hampshire and educated at Cambridge University. He ran a costume jewellery business before becoming the gardening expert on This Morning in 1989. In 2003, he was made the main presenter on BBC’s Gardeners’ World and since 2011, the show has been broadcast from his garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire. He has written more than 20 gardening books and discusses the latest, Paradise Gardens, at the Hay festival on 2 June. He is married with three children.
What is your earliest memory?
Being dried by my mother after a bath. I put my head on her shoulder and smelled bonfire smoke in her hair and patted her back. It is the only physical affection I remember.
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