Alan Titchmarsh, the 76-year-old television presenter and gardening expert, has shared a health update nearly a decade after undergoing knee surgery. The operation, which took place in 2018, involved the removal of damaged tissue and cartilage caused by years of gardening.
During an appearance on ITV's Love Your New Year’s Day with Alan Titchmarsh on 1 January, the conversation turned to ageing. Titchmarsh said: “Your age. You can’t fight that but at the same time, just being realistic as well as being adventurous in what you do, it’s a combination of the two.” Guest Gregor Fisher responded: “Embrace your age, it’s like you and your knees and dancing and all that kind of stuff.”
In a light-hearted moment, Titchmarsh dropped to his knees and stood back up with ease, prompting applause from co-star Bonnie Langford. However, he added with a wry smile: “Ow I’ll pay for that later!”
The presenter previously told The Mirror after his 2018 surgery: “I had it all cleared out and they feel so much better. I've got bad knees as a result of a lot of kneeling over the years from gardening, and it has got a bit frayed in there, but I am a spring chicken again now.”
Titchmarsh also faced further health challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown when he broke his ankle after slipping on wet grass. He told Radio Times he was “very cross” that the weight he had lost piled back on during his recovery, adding: “I found having to rely on somebody else doing absolutely everything for me really hard. I'm not a terribly good patient; I don't do ill.”
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs Sundays at 9:30am on ITV1.
