Alan Titchmarsh has revealed the poignant final conversation he had with his mother, Bessie, before she passed away. The 76-year-old gardener and broadcaster shared the emotional exchange in his book 'Knave of Spades'.
Describing the moment, Titchmarsh wrote: “From above the sheets only her head and her right hand were visible. Her hair was still dark, even at 78, though she had never in her life coloured. After an hour or so I got up to go and she opened her eyes. ‘You going?’” He replied: “Yes. Will you be alright?”
The Gardeners' World presenter explained that his family had never been open about their feelings, but that changed during this interaction. He wrote: “We had never, as a family been especially outspoken in our sentiments. We kissed and hugged every time we met, but we never said anything. You just didn’t do that in Yorkshire. Not back in the 50s and 60s. But now it didn’t seem to matter any more. I squeezed her hand and told her that I loved her very much. She squeezed it back, with as much strength as she had. ‘Not as much as I love you’, she said.”
Titchmarsh added: “At the end of the hospital ward I turned round and looked back at her. She slowly waved her fingers above the sheets, and winked at me. It was the last time I saw her. Two days later she died peacefully in her sleep.” He used the money she left him to buy a summerhouse, where he placed a plaque in her memory.
This is not the first time Titchmarsh has spoken about his family. In a 2023 podcast, he recalled the heartbreaking question his daughters would ask when he had to leave for work: “Will you be here in the morning?” He returns to screens this Sunday on ITV's 'Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh'.
