BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has opened up about his thoughts on mortality and death as discusses his health battles in more detail
Monty Don has spoken a little about death(Image: BBC)
Monty Don, one of Britain’s most celebrated gardening expert and BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, has become increasingly candid about his personal experiences in recent times.
The 70-year-old recently reflected on mortality and his life expectancy, revealing his peaceful acceptance of returning to the soil he’s dedicated his career to nurturing.
Speaking with the Times about how he’ll die, he said: “No. I’ll drop. You’ll discover me in the cabbage patch. I’ve always had this idea that when I die, I’ll just dissolve into everything. That’s not a scary thought. That’s fine.”
Health matters have featured prominently in Monty’s recent discussions, particularly concerning his double knee replacement surgery.
The broadcaster has been frank about disregarding medical guidance from his GP regarding knee difficulties, a decision which eventually required both knees to be replaced, reports the Express.
Monty Don has written about other health matters of his(Image: Getty)
Writing in his BBC Gardener’s World Magazine column, Monty described his experience: “For the last 10 years or more my knees have been giving me the gyp and, it turns out, slowly deteriorating. This is not so unusual or unexpected.”
He continued: “I have spent 70 years kneeling on them, asking them to stagger about under unreasonably heavy loads or, until 10 years ago, pounding around tarmacked roads.
“They have had a long, hard time of it.” Monty continued: “[My doctor] prescribed painkillers and told me to stop digging. I ignored both aspects of the prescription.
“Last summer I finally got round to having scans and seeing a surgeon and was duly told both my knees needed replacing. This was a bit of a surprise as I had been working on the assumption that I had one good knee and one bad knee.”
Monty Don and his dog(Image: Getty)
Following his double knee replacement surgery, Monty revealed the procedure has allowed him to return to more demanding gardening tasks, comparing the operation’s effect to maintaining his cherished Land Rover for a greater period of time.
He explained: “I shall be able to do things again, to get stuck in and crack on….with a fair wind and thanks to superb surgical skills, I should, like my beaten-up old Defender, keep ploughing on a bit longer.”
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