TV & Radio
My first broadcasting job was with the Automobile Association (AA), or more specifically, AA Roadwatch, providing traffic reports for local radio stations across the Midlands. I had a little studio at AA headquarters in Birmingham, where I gathered information from AA patrols out on the roads, wrote my reports and read them on air, usually just before the news.
From there I moved to BBC Radio WM in Birmingham, presenting a weekly gardening programme from the BBC's Pebble Mill studios.
Soon afterwards, I joined the newly established BBC Hereford & Worcester, where I did a variety of jobs, including live reports from the radio car.
This was a converted Austin Montego with a retractable mast on the roof. I'd drive to a location, park, press a button and watch the mast rise about twenty feet into the air. It was quite a contraption!
I also produced and presented various programmes, including The Green Scene, which I co-presented with Rob Parkin and Sue Robinson.
That led me into television. I joined BBC Two's Gardeners' World as a researcher, when Geoff Hamilton was presenting the programme from his garden in Rutland. My job was to research the short filmed items we made at locations around the country.
Later, I became an assistant producer and then a director, working with presenters Alan Titchmarsh and, later, Monty Don.
Other programmes followed, including The Great Outdoors and Real Gardens on Channel 4.