Alan Titchmarsh has revealed the time he almost lost his cool with a fan.
The TV gardener, 76, opened up to Saga magazine about being famous, saying that viewers sometimes ask him for gardening advice in unexpected places - such as on a flight.
He told the magazine: “I was once ever so slightly crabby on an aeroplane, when a woman came down the aisle and demanded to know, ‘What's wrong with my tomatoes?’
“I said, ‘Well, I can't tell from here.’ She said, ‘There's no need to be like that!’”
But he said there was another encounter which made him “nearly lose” it, when he was out with his wife Alison.
“The one time I nearly lost it was when I was in a restaurant with Alison, about to eat. A man grabbed my arm and said, ‘Now I've got you!’
“My fork was halfway to my mouth. It was hard to keep my cool.”
But he added that he is grateful for his fans, adding: “Generally speaking, it's not an effort. It's fine. We always say, ‘They bought our house.’”
He also said that his wife doesn’t mind that he has previously been voted one of the sexiest men on TV.
“She dealt with it because I am, as she says, just her little gardener,” he said.
“We're still the people we were when we married. I hope my head hasn't been turned.”
Previously, the broadcaster said he was “thrilled to bits” to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours.
Titchmarsh was honoured for services to horticulture and to charity, having served as the president of Perennial, formerly the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society, since 2004.
He is also the president of the charity Plant Heritage, formerly known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), whose patron is the King.
Titchmarsh told the PA news agency that “both thrill me equally” adding that “a lot of my charitable work is to do with horticulture”.
He said it had been a “teary moment” telling his wife Alison and daughters about the CBE, adding: “I’ve been an MBE for 25 years, so I kind of thought that was… I’ve been very happy with that.”
