Throughout his career Alan has combined his love of writing with gardening. No stranger to hard work, he has 40 gardening books, memoirs and three best-selling novels to his name. For six years he presented Gardeners' World and then moved to BBC1 with Ground Force. Front man for Points Of View, Pebble Mill, Songs Of Praise, Titchmarsh's Travels, Ask The Family and the Chelsea Flower Show, you have to hand it to the lad who left school with one O'level.

What's your all-time favourite TV programme?
"It has to be David Suchet in Poirot, I just love the old cars!"

If you weren't doing this job what would you be doing?
"I'd definitely be the head gardener at Tresco on the Isles of Scilly. It's a Mediterranean garden and it's lovely and warm and sunny. Yes, that would suit me just fine."

If you could present one programme (past or present) which would it be?
"Funnily enough I did it on Saturday. I'd always wanted to present the Last Night of the Proms and I absolutely loved it. It was completely hair-raising, I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants. Three hours of live TV - exhilarating!"

What book are you reading at the moment?
"The Map That Changed The World by Simon Winchester. It's about a man called William Smith who put together the first geographical map of the British Isles. Gardening, plants, natural history... it's all part of the trade".

Tell us about your most memorable filming disaster.
"It has to be when we were filming Pebble Mill for the Australian bicentenary. I fell out of a tree and broke my leg. What made it worse was that my girls said 'it's not a tree Dad, it's a bush!' ".

What was the last film you went to see at the cinema?
"Ladies In Lavender. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed it."

If you were controller of UKTV for the day, what would your schedule look like?
"There'd be lots of repeats of classic serials: the Poirots, Miss Marples and Foyles Wars. That would do me nicely. Generally I like escapism into all things period. I think I've already mentioned I particularly like the cars in Poirot! I used to have a 928 Morris Cowley and now have an Austin A50 van for all my gardening tools."

What's your idea of a perfect Sunday?
"I cook breakfast, do a spot of gardening, have a big Sunday lunch and a good walk. Then we'd all sit down in front of a log fire and watch one of the aforementioned crime programmes."

Talk us through a day in the life of Alan Titchmarsh
"As I write and broadcast, it's incredibly varied. I have to say though I'm a lark rather than an owl. I get up early in the morning and have a bowl of porridge. I'm at my desk writing by 8 or 8.30am. It's early days on the new novel so I can't tell you too much about the theme and I haven't got a title for it yet. So I write until 1pm, by which time I'm pretty spent. I have a light cheese and biscuit lunch and I'll pop out for a spot of gardening. Gardening's good for thinking - especially mowing. For supper we'll gather round the table with the girls [Alan's daughters aged 23 and 25] and we'll drink a drop of wine."

What advice have you got for aspiring young presenters?
"Try to find out who you are. It sounds facetious but isn't. Spend your time as a presenter crafting your own style rather than copying someone else's. Observe other good broadcasters for their technical tricks of trade and never be afraid to ask."

Do you miss working with Tommy and Charlie on Ground Force? Any plans to do a special with them?
"We all get along very well and I plan to see them for the rest of my life. In terms of making gardens together we've probably peaked though. I dropped out at 67 Ground Forces but they went on to do over 100."

Finally, describe your garden at home
"There's lots of grass and stone terraces. I like relatively formal hard lines with lots of billowing planting in between. There's also lots of topiary - I like clipped things."