'Gardening is more magical than Harry Potter!'

Green-fingered royalty Alan Titchmarsh, 76, on making the most of life and finally becoming a YouTube star

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Like the best of us, Alan Titchmarsh is striving for balance in his life. Recently, he has stopped working Fridays, plus, occasionally, the odd Monday.

‘It's the old cliché, but you can’t get it back,’ says Alan, 76. ‘My oldest grandchild has just hit 13, and you think, “Oh, crumbs! I've got a teenager as a grandchild now.” Grab it while you can.’

The trouble, though, is that Britain's favourite TV gardener is in demand.

‘I rather expected when I'd reached the ripe years that I’m at now that it wouldn’t be quite so busy as it is, but I keep getting asked to do things that are really quite nice,’ he explains.

At the time of our interview in early spring, as well as finishing his 13th novel, Alan is fronting his Gardening Club series on ITV as well as Love Your Weekend – his ‘delight’ of a Sunday show. Then there’s his new career as a YouTuber. In April, Alan launched the Gardening With Alan Titchmarsh channel on the platform, which he hopes will help him reach an untapped younger generation.