After Dinner Speakers: Alan Titchmarsh, The Strawbs, Edwin Starr

Alan is perhaps the best-known gardener in the UK, having been the presenter of Gardeners' World from 1996 to 2002 and Ground Force from 1997 to 2002. He was brought up on the edge of Ilkley Moor, Yorkshire, and left school at 15 to become an apprentice gardener in the local nursery. He then continued his training at agricultural college and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. From there he became a horticultural journalist and was deputy editor of Amateur Gardening magazine. He then turned to a freelance career in broadcasting and writing. He writes regularly for BBC Gardeners' World Magazine and is a gardening correspondent for several publications. Alan has written more than 30 gardening books, including The Gardeners' World Complete Guide to Gardening, as well as four novels. On radio and TV, Alan has fronted programmes as diverse as Points of View and Songs of Praise. The Garden Writers' Guild has twice named Alan Gardening Writer of the Year; and there is a waxwork model of him at Madame Tussauds! Alan has sold Barleywood and has moved to an old Georgian farmhouse three miles away, where he is busy working on a new garden. Future plans include a natural history series about the British Isles and a series about royal gardens. He will also be writing more novels and gardening books.