Alan Titchmarsh revealed the "heartbreaking" question his daughter would ask him after kissing her goodnight. The gardening expert admitted he was forced to spend extended periods away from home due to his work, which would leave him racked with guilt. The gardening expert spoke to James O'Brien's Full Disclosure podcast in July 2023 and shared: "It's not something I wanted but it was at a time in my career where I knew it had to be done.
The girls would be sort of 10,11 that kind of age. "I would go away on a Sunday evening and come back later in the weekend. I do remember the heartbreaking thing of kissing one of them goodnight and thems saying, 'Will you be here in the morning?'.
"I knew I wouldn't, and that was hard, of course. I did say, I mean every weekend, it's not as if I'm in the army going away for three months or a year or whatever, so that was my excuse." After leaving his Yorkshire school in 1964 with just one O level in art, aged 15, the TV star went on to host and present a range of programmes on both television and radio.
He has also become one of the most well-loved gardening presenters of all time. Titchmarsh first appeared on the screens as an expert on the long-running BBC television show Nationwide before hosting the 1983 Chelsea Flower show. From there, he hosted a range of shows, including Pebble Mill and Gardeners' World, and was part of a trio of faces who fronted the much-loved Ground Force.
Titchmarsh said that his time on Ground Force "pushed him".
