Monty Don – who is the host of Gardeners’ World – once suffered a terrifying stroke.
The TV star, 69, later confessed that the health scare had been a serious “wake-up call”…
Gardeners’ World star Monty Don on his illness
During an interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, Monty spoke about the stroke he suffered.
The TV star suffered a “mini-stroke” back in 2008. It led to him taking a break from Gardeners’ World.
“My brother told me that every 50-year-old bloke should have a minor stroke or a heart scare, because it gives you great intimations of mortality, and it reminds you that you are not 35 any longer and you have to take care of yourself,” he told the publication.
“You can’t be a slob. You can’t play hard and work hard because one of them will give. But as you get older, you also stop thinking about your mortality. It’s beyond your control. You live for the day,” he then added.
Gardeners’ World star Monty Don on cancer battle aged 10
It’s not the first time Monty’s been poorly. When he was 10 years old, Monty was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.
Speaking to The Times about it, he revealed that he knew it was serious because his mother visited him in hospital every day.
“I was in Battle Hospital in Reading, and I knew it was serious because while my father only came once, my mother came every day. And then I had radiotherapy for a year,” he said.
“I really liked that because I had a day off from school and my mother would take me and we would have lunch at Heelas, the department store, and I would have steak and kidney pie,” he then continued.
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Monty on being a ‘sickly child’
In a separate interview, this time with The Times, Monty revealed that since his childhood, he has taken illness to be an “irritating interruption” to life.
“Since then [his illness] I’ve taken ill health to be an irritating interruption into what is a fairly reliable stream of good health,” he said.
“From the ages of 18 to 50 I ran, rowed and lifted weights at my home gym. Now I keep my exercise focused on working outside. Gym culture veers too much towards appearance. I’m able to dig and chop wood, and I challenge anybody who goes to the gym to come and work with me outside,” he then added.
Gardeners’ World is on BBC One Friday nights at 8pm. A repeat of Gardeners’ World airs on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer Saturdays from 9.25am.
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