Geoff Hamilton: A Man and His Garden Book

The sudden death in 1996 of Geoff Hamilton, popular presenter for 17 years of the BBC television "Gardeners' World", came as a devastating blow to his viewers and admirers. His colleague Gay Search says that many people told her it was as though they had lost a member of their own family. What was he like, this gardening Everyman, to inspire such affection and devotion? His story is told in Geoff Hamilton: A Man and His Garden, on which Gay Search has collaborated with Hamilton's identical twin brother Tony. It's an unexceptional life in many ways--National Service, agricultural college, struggling landscaping businesses, then the break into journalism and television. Hamilton's secret, it seems, was that he had no secret. A devoted, hard-working gardener and family man, he communicated directly with his viewers and readers, never talking down, sharing his skills and discoveries (most notably the use of Chinese take-away trays for seedlings) with enormous enthusiasm. He did it all himself and was entirely self-made: his television garden was his own garden. Gay Search has researched his life thoroughly, talking to family and friends to build up a warm, sympathetic portrait of this admirable man and gardener, whose great fortune was that, by dint of hard work and the right sort of luck, he was able to live a life he loved. --Robin DavidsonRead More