Монти Дон: Британдық бағбан, жазушы және тележүргізушісі

British writer, broadcaster, horticulturist

Montagu Denis Wyatt Don (born George Montagu Don; 8 July 1955) is a British horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series Gardeners' World. Born in Germany and raised in England, Don studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he met his future wife. They ran a successful costume jewellery business through the 1980s until the stock market crash of 1987 resulted in almost complete bankruptcy. In 1989, Don made his television debut as a regular on This Morning with a gardening segment, which led to further television work across the decade including his own shows for BBC Television and Channel 4. Don began his writing career at this time and published his first of over 25 books, in 1990. Between 1994 and 2006, Don wrote a weekly gardening column in The Observer. In 2003, Don replaced Alan Titchmarsh as the lead presenter of Gardeners' World, only leaving the show between 2008 and 2011 owing to illness. Since then he has written and produced several garden series of his own, the most recent being Monty Don's Spanish Gardens which aired in 2024.

George Montagu Don was born on 8 July 1955 in Iserlohn, West Germany. He is the youngest of five children to British parents Denis Thomas Keiller Don, a career soldier stationed in Germany at the time of his birth, and Janet Montagu (née Wyatt). Soon after Don's birth, his parents changed the name on his birth certificate to Montagu Denis Don because of a family spat over the name. When Don was 10, he added his mother's maiden name, becoming Montagu Denis Wyatt Don. Don has a twin sister, Alison, who at the age of 19 was nearly killed in a car accident, suffering a broken neck and blindness. He described his parents as "very strict". He attended three independent schools: Quidhampton School in Basingstoke, followed by Bigshotte School in Wokingham, where at seven, he was asked to leave school for being too boisterous. and a state sixth form college, Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke. He failed his A levels and while studying for retakes at night school, worked on a building site and a pig farm by day. During his childhood he had become an avid gardener and farmer. In his late teens, Don spent several months in Aix en Provence, France where he worked as a gardener and played rugby in local teams. He returned to England, determined to attend Cambridge University out of "sheer bloody mindedness", during which time he met his future wife Sarah Erskine, a trained jeweller and architect. The situation prompted Don to embark on a career in writing and broadcasting. Reflecting on the experience, he wrote: "We were lambs to the slaughter and we lost everything, [ ] we lost our house, our business. We sold every stick of furniture we had at Leominster market". He was unemployed from 1991 to 1993, and spent all of 1992 on the dole. After 26 spots on This Morning, Don landed additional television work as presenter on the BBC Television shows Holiday and Tomorrow's World. Though he had some doubts about being a presenter, he took the jobs as he felt desperate for work. This was followed by three other series hosted by Don between 1999 and 2003: Real Gardens, Lost Gardens, and Don Roaming.

In September 2002, the BBC announced Don as the new lead presenter of its long running series Gardeners' World from 2003, succeeding Alan Titchmarsh. Don is the first self taught horticulturist presenter in the show's history. After viewing figures fell below two million for the first time in 2009, the BBC announced further changes to the programme to entice viewers back. In December 2010, Don announced his return as host for the 2011 series. Reaction to the announcement was divided on the programme's blog. Initially Don filmed episodes of Gardeners' World in Berryfields, a rented garden in Stratford upon Avon. When he returned as host in 2011, Don began to present from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Ivington, Herefordshire. He was frequently seen on screen with his Golden Retriever Nigel until the dog died in May 2020, shortly before its 12th birthday. In 2016, Don introduced viewers to his new golden retriever, Nell. This was followed by the addition of Patti, a Yorkshire Terrier, in April 2020. Nell was diagnosed with cancer in June 2023 and sadly died in October 2023. Monty Don announces death of beloved dog Nell in emotional tribute In 2020, Don signed a contract with the BBC to continue presenting Gardeners' World for three years.

Don is also known for writing and presenting his own series. In 2005, he set up a smallholding in Herefordshire so a group of young drug offenders could work the land. The project was documented for the BBC series Growing Out of Trouble, airing in 2006. In 2010, Don presented My Dream Farm, a Channel 4 series which helped people learn to become successful smallholders, and Mastercrafts, a BBC series which celebrated six traditional British crafts. Monty Don's Italian Gardens aired on the BBC in 2011, which was followed by Monty Don's French Gardens, in 2013. Later that year, Don presented an episode of Great British Garden Revival. In 2014, Don became the lead presenter for the BBC's flagship Chelsea Flower Show coverage, again replacing Titchmarsh. In 2023 he presented alongside Joe Swift and Sophie Raworth. Since 2014, Don has presented three series of Big Dreams, Small Spaces, where he helps amateur gardeners in creating their own "dream spaces" at home. In 2015, Don presented the four part BBC series The Secret History of the British Garden, charting the development of British gardens from the 17th to the 20th century. Don's next series was Monty Don's Paradise Gardens in 2018, travelling across the Islamic world and beyond in search of paradise gardens and considering their place in the Quran. This was followed by Monty Don's Japanese Gardens in 2019, Monty Don's American Gardens in 2020, Monty Don's Adriatic Gardens in 2022 and Monty Don's Spanish Gardens in 2024.

Don has described himself primarily as a writer, "who happens to have lots of television work." In January 1994, Allan Jenkins, then editor of The Observer, invited Don to write a weekly gardening column for the newspaper. The column began in February of that year and lasted until May 2006; Jenkins was his editor for seven years. In 2016 Hodder Books published an audiobook of Don's Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs, read by the author.

Don married Sarah Erskine in 1983. They have two sons and a daughter. In 1989, they relocated to The Hanburies, a country house in Herefordshire. The making of the garden there, and the subsequent loss of the house in the aftermath of the crash of their jewellery business, was the subject of Don's first book, The Prickotty Bush. In 1991, the Dons bought a home in Ivington, Herefordshire where they started to create a new garden named Longmeadow. The home was unfit to live in at the time of purchase, so while they refurbished it they rented a home in Leominster that was infested with rats and had no heating.

Don has owned many dogs throughout his adult life. Two that he currently own are Ned, a Golden Retriever, and Patti, a Yorkshire terrier; which are seen on camera with Don on Gardeners' World. Nellie, another Golden Retriever died in October 2023. He also owns dogs that are not featured on the show. The coppice at Longmeadow holds the graves of Dons' many pets, including dogs Nigel, Nellie, Beaufort, Red, Poppy and Barry, and cats Stimpy and Blue. Don also has a sheep farm, on which he keeps 500 ewes. Nigel was a male Golden Retriever dog owned by Don. Nigel made many appearances on Gardeners' World, sometimes with Nellie. The dog was chosen as a seven week old puppy from a litter in the Forest of Dean on 1 July 2008 and was popular with viewers who were concerned when he disappeared from the programme in September 2012. He had injured himself after twisting sideways when jumping to catch a tennis ball and had ruptured an intervertebral disc in his spine. Nigel recovered and resumed his television appearances. As with Don's other dogs, Nigel and Nellie are buried in the garden at Longmeadow.

Don has suffered with depression since his mid twenties. He first wrote about his experiences with it, and its effect on his personal life, in a piece for The Observer in 2000. At one point, Don's wife threatened to leave with their children if he did not seek help. After receiving cognitive behavioural therapy and taking Prozac for a short time, Don quit both when he realised his depression was mostly seasonal, which he attributed to seasonal affective disorder, and found relief with a light box. In 2015 Don said that years of gardening had left him with sore knees, one of which causes constant pain and needs replacing. He contracted COVID 19 again in May 2023.

In July 2006 he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, choosing an eclectic mix of pop and classical records; the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" was his favourite disc, his book choice was Collected Poems by Henry Vaughan and his luxury item the painting Hendrikje Bathing by Rembrandt. In 2006 Don had launched the Monty Don Project, an effort to assist drug users by involving them in agriculture and gardening. The project was the focus of both a book and a TV series, Growing Out Of Trouble.

Don was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to horticulture, to broadcasting and to charity. In May 2022 he was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the council of the Royal Horticultural Society.