1. James Steele-Sargent has just worked on gardens for Chris Evans, and Billie Piper. Evans was grumpy. Billie was lovely but looked a bit rough in the mornings. She wanted a pig pen.
2. Britain’s most popular TV gardener? Nigel Slater.
3. Alan Titchmarsh made compost with Kelvin McKenzie and Julie Peasgood last week on Titch’s new ITV afternoon chat series. Titchmarsh’s new book, Knave of Spades, ends with a poem, in which AT calls himself a “sex god” (tongue ‘firmly in cheek’ no doubt). He also uses the verb ‘toddle’ to describe his mode of locomotion. Titch says in a recent Guardian iv “I grew up in a family in Yorkshire”.
4. Forgot to say last week that in the Royal Parks half marathon I beat Linford Christie…’s niece Rachel. Miss England.
5. My colleague got a call from a PR the other week asking if anyone could knock out an allotment book in a month. Jez Abbott finished the tome in a fortnight.
6. Ex RHS bod Matthew Wilson says Channel 4 are keen on a second series of Landscape Man. Unless only one ma and his dog watch it. Which is quite possible considering there have been no successful gardening series since Groundforce. Go on, name one. James Wong-ok, maybe.
7. Things are hotting up ahead of the annual pumpkin competition at the allotment. This will be the boy William’s first Halloween. Good year for pumpkins.
8. The Royal London Society for the Blind is having a charity bowling event in the City at the beginning of December and is looking for a gardening service as a prize. It’s mostly commodity traders – Barclays Wealth Management, Credit Suisse, Fortis etc etc and an ideal prize would be an introductory garden makeover. I suggested Jack Dunckley.
9. The RHS held a thank you lunch for the ‘tapas 7’ last week. Martyn Cox (Mail), Stephen Anderton (Times), Jane Perrone (Guardian) and others were thanked for their support. One garden writer told me he was v upset not to be invited. Another said they couldn’t remember if they were invited but wouldn’t have been able to go anyway. The seven did not go to the Ivy, as rumoured, but to a “simple tapas lunch place”. RHS bods Bob Sweet and Hayley Monckton officiated. 10. Maggies Centre in Hammersmith has won the Stirling Prize for Lord Richard Rogers. I think Dan Pearson’s garden must have helped. I cycle past it every morning and it gets better. Website Thinkinggardens disagrees.
11. Monty Don says the BBC would not let him film Gardener’s World at his own garden and they had to do it in a carpark (Berryfields) instead. Untrue says BBC insiders. Don would not let the BBC film at his pad for privacy reasons. Most people think GW was better when it came from a real garden and not an old football field (Greenacres).
