Right Genes , livre ebook

2QT Limited (Publishing - Nick Hamilton

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

108 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

I've heard it said that the middle son is the one that turns out to be most like their father, and in my case that has turned out to be true. Both Dad and I were the middle sons of three boys, each brought up by a father who was barking mad - and at an early age we both found that horticulture was the life for us.My dad's first memories were of the Second World War, whereas mine were of the swinging sixties. That said, our lives seemed to have followed the same pattern and we turned out to be very similar. This is the story of a son growing up with his dad and all the weird and wonderful things that happened along the journey.Nick Hamilton is an author of two organic gardening books as well as writing for magazines and other publications. He has appeared on BBC2's Gardeners' World and several other television programmes.The son of gardening legend Geoff Hamilton, Nick is a well-known horticultural expert in his own right. He trained at Writtle College before gaining experience at several wholesale nurseries prior to going into business with his dad at Barnsdale. They worked together for several years before Geoff's untimely death. Subsequently Nick took on Barnsdale Gardens and, from 1997, opened them to the public. They continue to inspire, educate and enthral the many gardeners and non-gardeners who visit each year.

Informations

Publié par	2QT Limited (Publishing
Date de parution	04 avril 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781914083433
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First Edition published 2022 by
2QT Limited (Publishing)
Settle, N. Yorkshire
Copyright © Nick Hamilton
The right of Nick Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that no part of this book is to be reproduced, in any shape or form. Or by way of trade, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, without prior permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher Disclaime r:
The events in this memoir are described according to the author’s recollection; recognition and understanding of the events and individuals mentioned and are in no way intended to mislead or offend. As such the Publisher does not hold any responsibility for any inaccuracies or opinions expressed by the author. Every effort has been made to acknowledge and gain any permission from organisations and persons mentioned in this book. Any enquiries should be directed to the author.
Cover image: © Radio Times/Immediate Media
Printed by IngramSpark
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
eBook ISBN 978-1-914083-43-3
Paperback ISBN 978-1-914083-42-6

For Helen
Who was and continues to be my inspiration.

Preface
This is a story about the relationship between a son and his dad and how, from the off, it was obvious that the son would turn out to be a ‘chip off the old block’. The individual stories are as close to fact as I can remember, which makes it a ‘semi-factual’ story. In reality it is irrelevant that I was also the son of the most popular television gardener there’s ever been!
I once read that the middle child is more likely to be the one most like their father. I’m not sure if this was written by an eminent psychologist or it’s an urban myth, but with me I think it hits the nail on the head.
During the seventeen years my dad appeared at 8.30pm each Friday evening on BBC Two’s Gardeners’ World , he was watched by millions of people. Most were avid gardeners looking for their gardening fix to prepare them for a full weekend in the garden or on the allotment, but there was also a significant number of husbands, wives, partners and children who watched – often because the household only had one television. Children watched as it was better than doing homework or household chores, as was often the case for the partners of avid gardeners who wanted to avoid doing the washing-up! However, there were many non-gardeners who watched Dad on Gardeners’ World because they enjoyed the programme even though they didn’t garden. He had a captivating, natural way about him and viewers really took to his presenting style.
Dad followed the likes of Percy Thrower, Peter Seabrook, Clay Jones, Arthur Billet and Geoffrey Smith. They were all traditional gardeners who appeared in shirts and ties, having removed their jackets prior to getting stuck in. Then this bloke in jeans and a checked shirt appeared in the late 1970s – and, God forbid, his top button was undone! He was like a breath of fresh air and it was clear that viewers were absolutely ready for this change.
During the time he presented Gardeners’ World , these millions of viewers got to know him inside out. Or at least they thought they did.
In order to know the man behind the camera, the private Geoff Hamilton, you need to know not only his background but how his life, work, family, and particularly his children, moulded him as a person. The best way for me to help you do that is to write about my life with my soon-to-be-famous Dad. This was an idea I had for a while. It was my wife Helen who encouraged me to put fingers to keyboard and set all my stories down on paper, otherwise the idea might still be rattling around in my head.
The first draft of this book was written while I was sitting with Helen in Peterborough City Hospital Oncology Department as she underwent chemotherapy treatment. That may seem odd for a book that is full of humour, but it’s not if you know me, Helen or my dad. Odd is very much what we did!
I’ve really enjoyed putting into words the first of my two-book series. Whether you were aware of my dad or not, I hope this story makes you smile.

Chapter One
It really was never going to be particularly difficult because she’d done it all before. All it needed was a tensing of the stomach muscles, a squeeze of her buttocks and he was out!
It was the 15th of August 1936, a clear, warm, star-studded night, pretty average for the time of year, when Geoffrey Stephen Ham was born a mere two minutes before his twin, Anthony. To his parents, Rose and Cyril Ham, it was an uneventful birth but, most importantly for Geoffrey, he emerged the older twin, a position he would exploit for the rest of his life. The only glitch was that he was not the oldest son, merely the middle one. Barry, born three years previously, was waiting to greet his new siblings.
Those present at the birth were not aware that Rose had just given birth to a star as bright as those in the night sky, one that would enlighten, enhance and improve the lives of millions of people. Rose didn’t realise at the time that she’d had a narrow escape; as Geoffrey would become the greatest television gardener of his generation, he could – and should – have emerged clutching his spade!
This recently expanded family lived in a small three-bedroomed terrace house with a yard in the East End of London. They shared the house with Rose’s parents, Harriet and Alfred Graham, but with two new additions to the Ham family the house was now becoming very cramped.
Rose had aspired to greater things for some time. She longed to leave the dark, dismal and unhealthy East End and take her husband and three boys to a greener, leafier life; in the process, she could elevate their social standing. Those who knew Rose were clear that social standing was more important to her than greenery. This was the utopian lifestyle she had dreamt of as a teenager.
It had always been Rose’s dream, because Cyril was not a willing partner in her vision. He was East End through and through, a bit of a wheeler-dealer, and his life plan was simple: to stay where they were with the life they had. He definitely wasn’t a countryside sort of person. However, he knew the writing was on the wall and he had no option but to go along wherever that fairy tale took them. Rose had the stronger will and determination, a will and determination only matched by her mother’s, so ultimately she called the shots in the Ham family.
Rose knew she couldn’t push through this life change on her own. Extricating yourself from such an environment didn’t happen often, so she needed her husband’s help. But Cyril had always been popular within this community; he had many, many friends and associates, although Rose despised this close-knit East End ‘family’. She wanted more and she wanted better. She didn’t fit in with his friends any more but, as fate would have it, it was Cyril’s network of friends that set Rose and the family on the road to her idea of a better life.
Eighteen months before the start of World War Two, to Rose’s surprise one of Cyril’s closest friends came good. Through the vast web of the East End network, he had heard of the perfect property. He passed this information, scribbled on the back of an empty Woodbine cigarette packet, to his good friend. Deep down Cyril was gutted, but he knew what this would mean to his wife so he went home and gave Rose the life-changing news she yearned for: there was a rather lovely semi-detached house in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. The only fly in the ointment was that it was on the market for a whopping £400! It would take a lifetime to pay it off but this was Rose’s dream move and earned Cyril at least a week’s worth of brownie points.
Young Geoffrey was only two years old when the family drove out of the murky East End towards their new life in Hertfordshire. As they turned onto the Mile End Road, he didn’t notice the dull, sooty colours of the roadside trees because they were normal to him. As they forged onwards through North London, the number of trees seemed to multiply faster than the miles per hour on their speedometer. The green, chlorophyll-filled leaves started to shine through and Geoff’s young eyes saw colours they had not witnessed before. This was a seminal moment for Geoffrey; not only was his whole life being uprooted but also he was being introduced to nature for the first time. The seed had been sown.
Crossing into Hertfordshire was a bittersweet moment for Cyril. He knew it was the beginning of the end of the life he had known and loved, and it was a giant step into the unknown. Crossing the county line would see this working class family thrust into an alien, middle-class lifestyle. As they entered Hertfordshire, Rose’s eyes could not have been wider or brighter as she drooled over leafy suburbs of almost forest-like proportions, and houses with large, green gardens. This most definitely had middle class written all over it!
Her mother Harriet, on the other hand, was happy where she was. She had only known life in the East End. She wasn’t sure whether a move for her family was the best thing but she wasn’t going to stand in the way of her daughter’s dream. However, after saying goodbye to her beloved grandchildren, this wise lady took a moment to remind Rose that, no matter how posh she became, she would never take the East End out of her family.
It was obvious that Har