Jim McColl at 80

Hello. Last autumn, a group of us here at the BBC in Aberdeen

started work on a project which we hope will, over the coming weeks,

become a regular part of your viewing.

Hello, and welcome to Beechgrove Garden.

Now, I wonder how many times I've said that.

He's the grandfather of Scottish horticulture.

Well, he's a lovely person, you know, and he's a bit of a softie.

He loves the humour of gardening. He just loves the humour of life.

I made rather a skittish remark

and his lovely twinkle came out

and he said "Och, ya wee besom!"

He's not an intsy-tinsy, just for show gardener,

all that sort of instant gardening programme,

they're an anathema to Jim, cos he's a real gardener.

And every day with Jim is a school day.

In the late '70s, I, as did millions of you at home,

fell madly in love

with a TV programme that appeared on our screens.

Hosted by Jim McColl and his trusty pal, George Barron,

these guys, with their incredible passion and knowledge of gardening,

brought the outside world into our living rooms.

Now, I was fortunate enough to meet Jim further down the line,

but it wasn't gardening that brought us together.

It was music.

Aly Bain and myself were doing a concert in Islay

and we got a whisper that the legendary Jim McColl

was going to be in the audience.

Little did we know that Jim was actually a long-time fan

and when we finished, he came to see us.

We shared a chat and a dram.

The next thing I knew, Jim had my accordion strapped on,

I was relegated to piano

and concert number two began for the evening.

Down the years, Jim and I have met many more times,

but over the last couple of weeks,

I've been able to appreciate Jim the man

a little bit more, as he's taken me, as he would say himself,

on a wee dander down the garden path of his life.

-Well, it'll soon be strawberry time, George.

-Aye.

So we've got to spray 'em, straw 'em...

-And net 'em.

-And net 'em.

-THEY LAUGH

After listening to BBC garden programmes,

they suggested burning it, which I did,

with disastrous results.

LAUGHTER

We take no responsibility for other broadcasters on the BBC.

I mean, there's a' kinds of funny chiels get on the BBC from time to time!

Jim's is such a familiar voice and face.

Well, he's been part of Scottish culture and family life

for over 40 years.

We've all seen him gardening on the telly,

but what about the man behind the trowel?

-Well, you're getting into a fair snarl.

-Aye.

In this special programme,

we have the chance to examine the life and times

of the horticultural broadcasting legend that is Jim McColl.

I've got a wee swing going here now.

Well, that is the strangest way to arrive at a community garden.

An Ayrshire man,

Jim was born in Kilmarnock on the 19th September in 1935

and so it was fitting that we began our digging around in Jim's roots

in the town of his birth, with one of the passions that has shaped him,

the works of our national bard

and fellow Ayrshire man, Robert Burns.

-Isn't this lovely?

-Absolutely.

I suppose I first visited it about 75 years ago!

'No sooner had we arrived in Killie, at the Burns Monument Centre,

'we were met by Kilmarnock's provost

'with an appropriate Burnsian birthday gift for Jim.'

So I'd like to present you with a Burns book

on behalf of everyone at East Ayrshire Council.

-That's nice.

-You're welcome to Kilmarnock.

This is the Luath edition.

The provost gives these books out to special people

and it's very special,

celebrating your 80th and your welcome to Kilmarnock today.

I'm very grateful, thank you for that.

I'll never...

-forget Kilmarnock.

-Not yet.

-Well deserved, Jim.

-Thank you.

And a nice inscription on the inside, too.

"The simple Bard, "unbroke by rules of art,

"he pours the wild effusions of the heart,

"and if inspir'd, 'tis nature's pow'rs inspire,

"her's all the melting thrill, and her's the kindling fire".

-That's good.

-Nothing like a bit of poetry.

He kind of knew his job, the boy, didn't he?

JIM LAUGHS

"Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

"great chieftain o' the..."

-Squeeze-box race!

-THEY LAUGH

I mean, how have you kept Burns with you over the years?

-I've done an Immortal Memory in Penang.

-Really?

-Yes!

-I've toasted the haggis...

-What bus do you get to Penang?

-THEY LAUGH

-..toasted the haggis in Cambodia.

-Gee whizz.

-Number one son is out there, you see,

so there's always, has to be a Burns supper, or something.

It's getting the haggis there that's the biggest problem.

Did you fall in love with Burns because it was obligatory,

because of where you came from, or was it a genuine interest

-in the words that he was writing?

-Well, I think it grows,

and as you get older, you begin to see more in the words.

This looks a bit special.

I know, it's always exciting to see these old books.

I got my little wee 1947,

was as far back as I would go, but these are original.

Wow.

It's got a library ticket, it was due back!

THEY LAUGH

1972!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. "The twa dogs."

-Yeah.

-"A Tale."

"I've often wondere'd, honest Luath,

"what sort of life poor dogs like you have

"and when the gentry's life I saw,

"what way poor bodies liv'd ava.

"Our laird gets in his racked rents,

"His coals, his kane, an' a' his stents..."

-So, he's describing the life of the nobbery...

-Yeah.

..and, of course, Luath is a wee collie dog

with a different view of life, but a bit of a philosopher.

It's a story of society,

the haves and the have-nots

and everybody can associate with it.

Some may look down on it,

but in their heart of hearts, this is about man.

-And do you think...

-It's about civility and civilisation.

Do you think that your connection with Burns' work

-has had an effect on the way you've lived your own life?

-I think you do.

I think there's two things,

that sort of work and as far as I'm concerned, say, the Bible.

Take the Bible away

and just give me the ten commandments, that'll do me any day.

There's almost a phrase in the Burns works to cover

just about anything and everything we can get involved in.

Well, "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley."

And you'd be forgiven for thinking that I'm down here

in supplicant pose, praying for better weather.

'And how fitting is it that there is yet another appropriate gift,

'Jim's very own family tree.'

THEY LAUGH

Genus McColl.

Species...

never known!

THEY LAUGH

-Holy mackerel!

-Look at this.

Now you can see here that we've got back to Angus McColl,

who was your great, great, great grandfather...

-Ooh.

-..and this book tells the story of your family.

So, Angus McColl, as you can see, was a gardener.

Did you know that?

It's in the genes.

-I knew it was!

-That's amazing.

-It tells the full story

of your life on the McColl side, the family tree.

What a great thing.

I thought Facebook was bad.

THEY LAUGH

How many of these people do you think

were involved in gardening, horticulture, agriculture?

There was Father himself and then Mary, who had a market garden,

and then there was Willie, who was a farmer

and his family are still farming.

And Uncle Willie was just brilliant and he and I had a great relationship.

He wanted me to do agriculture,

but he'd already two sons in the business

and Father said, "Well, please yourself".

I can still, actually, size up a nice-looking heifer.

THEY LAUGH

ACCORDION MUSIC

-So, Jim, you've brought me to this lovely park here.

-Yes.

What significance do parks have in your life?

Well, I should say it's the Kay Park and in Kilmarnock,

there are four or five lovely parks.

Before he left for other places,

-my father was deputy superintendant for all of the parks.

-Wow.

And the Kay Park here was one of them.

He started off in the Howard Park in the centre of town

and when he came back from the forces in '46,

he immediately went back into the park there

and he was foreman of the park,

so it was part of the fabric of our life, really.

You're much influenced by your environment

and that's one of the features,

obviously, that was part of my environment.

And years later, in 1989,

Jim was able to visit and interview his dear dad

in his then Helensburgh garden to talk begonias.

And then, after time,

they'll be covered up.

-Right.

-Covered like so.

So, they've got to be kept in frost-proof premises

-and as I mentioned before, with certain permission...

-JIM LAUGHS

..I'm allowed to use under the bed in the spare room

and that's where the boxes are wintered

-until, say, around about the month of April.

-Right.

Jim's upbringing in Kilmarnock

was also the seed bed for another of his passions...music.

'And in the surroundings of the Kay Park,

'reminiscing on early family life with his dad,

'Jim and I strapped on our squeeze-boxes ready for a tune.'

What are your memories of family life in those days?

Well, of course, he disappeared from the time I was five

and he came back at the end of the war and I was 10, 11, you know,

and so I can remember from then on

when things really started to happen

and one of his Army pals,

they went to football every Saturday in the winter time,

nip down to Rugby Park,

but we all met up afterwards and we had our high tea

and then we would sit and listen to The McFlannels.

-What was The McFlannels?

-Well, it was a family saga, really,

just like The Broons type thing on the radio.

'Once again we bring you The McFlannels, by Helen W Pryde.

'Ah, tak aff yer boots if ye want tae,

'Sarah's not in the now,

'I'm used wi' bad smells at the work.'

And then, of course, there was Scottish dance music.

The parents all loved Scottish dance music

and the tune that it all started with was Kate Dalrymple.

Kate Dalrymple, that's Take The Floor, I guess?

Well, it was a pre-runner of the Take The Floor.

-Let me hear you...

-Kate Dalrymple,

-and they still use it, Robbie still uses it today?

-Oh, I'm sure he does.

THEY PLAY "KATE DALRYMPLE"

Welcome to Tak' The Flair!

Och! Me, me, I go back to the road shows,

it was one of the best highlights of my life on television

was presenting the Beechgrove Roadshows.

Well, here I am having a general chat about gardening,

but the experts have arrived now, so I'm going to leave it to them.

No matter where we were, Jim always took the accordion with him

'and George Barron sometimes took his fiddle

'and of course I contemplated a song or two'

and we had an impromptu ceilidh, often just between ourselves.

Was there much music in the house?

-Piano.

-Yeah?

-And of course, that was one of the problems.

When I flew the nest,

I suddenly realised I couldn't take the piano with me

and in the meantime, one of my farming cousins

had a squeeze-box and I just loved the sound of it,

so I bought a Frontalini from a music shop in Ayr.

What kind of sauce did you have with that?

THEY LAUGH

All the sauce in the world, because I could,

I could play with the right hand of course,

but you've got to learn the bellows.

Well, I used to sit in the bothy in Auchincruive

and drive the boys absolutely wild as I sat trying.

-What about playing The Headlands?

-The Headlands? Aye.

MUSIC: The Headlands by Ronnie Cooper

I can just imagine Jim entertaining,

or maybe torturing his fellow horticultural students

as he taught himself to play the squeeze-box

in his leisure time in what was then

the West of Scotland College of Agriculture.

Well, Jim, this must bring some happy memories back to you,

this is where you started to formalise your career.

-Absolutely.

-Just think of working in this environment.

I spent two years at college, formal training,

and at the end of that,

the superintendent of these gardens,

which served all the students and so on,

said to me, "Have you got a job to go to, boy?"

I said, "No." He said, "Well, there's one for you here".

-Really?

-Yes.

So, I came onto the staff here, lived in the wee bothy up there

and I did three years here in three different departments

and for one whole year, I kind of looked after this bit.

I cut all this grass every Thursday

in the growing season with a big 36-inch mower...

That's a lot of grass.

It was a throwback to the old days of the estate,

but what you were doing was learning the rhythm of the seasons,

the priorities of the job.

-And the disciplines.

-The disciplines of how to get it done,

so it was a hugely important learning curve

and learning actually on the job as well.

How did you find that formal learning aspect to it?

Was it quite revealing?

I'm going to be very predictable...

it grows on you!

THEY LAUGH

I can't help but draw some comparisons,

having spoken to you for the last little while,

between horticulture, gardening and music.

You know, you can teach anybody to play tunes

and you can learn to play an instrument,

but it's learning to love it and to love the music and love the craft

and clearly, that's what you do.

Absolutely right. But the interesting thing is

I use the same analogy in a different way.

You can start gardening any time you like,

there are no barriers.

You can get involved or you can be a spectator,

you can go on to be a champion, or you just like a nice lawn.

It's the same with music.

What effect does this all have on you personally?

-I'm a kind of happy chappy!

-THEY LAUGH

I do what I can for my fellow man, I do what I can for the family.

What's life for otherwise?

Yeah, I 100% agree with you.

ACCORDION MUSIC

Aye, it's tomato time again.

I'm going away to sit in a corner and think about that.

In the 1970s, Jim brought his young family to Aberdeenshire

and it's from Jim's present home in Oldmeldrum

that I learned the connection between another two of Jim's passions,

whisky...

and tomatoes.

I feel really privileged to have been invited into your own greenhouse

to see Jim McColl's own tomato plants.

They're not the best this year, I can tell you.

I'm suffering, like everybody else, from the peculiar summer we've had.

We've got a crop, that's for sure.

-You do.

-If they would just ripen, I want them to turn red!

What is it with you and tomatoes? Where did this love affair begin?

I could argue that it's why I'm here in many respects, you know,

but if you come outside, I'll tell you all about it.

This is quite a nice bit of ground,

but it used to be covered with polytunnels and glasshouses.

-Really?

-Yes, exactly.

So, I go back to the mid-'70s,

we'd just had the oil crisis of '73

and there was big headlines in the newspapers saying

"The Scotch tomato's going to be disappearing"

because the Clyde Valley houses were old and difficult to heat

and with the cost of fuel, it wasn't going to work.

The production director of Stanley P Morrison Ltd,

based in Glasgow, is reading this

and he's having something of the same problem

with his distillery in Oldmeldrum, so on the phone, "McColl..."

..right, "could we grow tomatoes in Aberdeenshire?"

I said, "Yes, but it's going to cost you because

"they'll take a lot of heating."

The story is we finished up, we put a half acre,

multi-span poly-tunnel on this piece of grass out here

and we used waste energy.

The water that was cooling the spirit

then had to go to a cooling tower.

Well, that was costing money.

So, instead of that, we diverted it through the glasshouse

and it heated the glasshouse.

So, at its peak, by the end of the '80s, 200 tonnes of tomatoes.

-That's incredible.

-Waste energy.

It was a project that was 20 years before its time.

It was so far ahead of its time

that it was featured on the then also ground-breaking

Tomorrow's World.

By boosting that three or four times,

they can get the plants to grow faster and stronger.

The gas coming off the fermenters

is high on carbon dioxide,

so we bottled it, so to speak,

but it brought with it the perfume,

so people walked in there and it...

-JIM SNIFFS

-Whisky.

THEY LAUGH

So they were labelled in the local shops as Whisky Toms.

Whisky Toms.

-Sounds like my kind of tomato, to be honest.

-Well, right enough!

Well, I've drunk plenty of whisky and I've eaten plenty of tomatoes,

but I never knew there was such a tight link between the two.

Well, in my life there has been,

because, obviously, we made our life here,

and we've just loved it.

Hello, and welcome to the Beechgrove Garden in Aberdeen.

But how did Jim McColl become the longest serving, best loved,

weelest-kent gardener on the telly?

I spent 14 years south of the border.

I saw the way that the gardens worked there,

I saw the climate, different soils, all the rest of it,

and the facilities that were available for the amateur gardener

to help that person, you know, get better

and I came back to Scotland a lot maturer than when I left

and realised that it wasn't quite the same up here.

I came to work at the north college

and quite soon I was invited to participate

on a weekly radio programme

and it was about helping people to garden better.

Eventually, I finished up chairing that programme

and then, lo and behold,

we're talking about doing a television programme.

Hello there, and welcome once again to the Beechgrove Garden.

When we laid out the Beechgrove, it was laid out

in a series of cameos of a back garden.

No pretensions, just a back garden, a front garden,

a few tubs and troughs, a few wee conifers and all that sort of stuff,

'because that's where I knew for a fact

'that people needed more information.'

Now, we're fair enjoying this stroll...

Oh, yes, we'll go in and see what Brian's doing at the...

-No, we're going to look at the fruit house first.

-Oh, yes of course, aye.

You're nae getting away with that.

The ethos was very much

to keep feet on the ground and to keep contact with real gardeners.

People respond because it's not beyond their comprehension,

it couldn't be if it was coming from me,

'or dare I say it, my late pal, George, who was a countryman,'

a gardener all his days

and he just got success by trial and error.

There's a wee bit of detergent amongst the water, that will probably help to...

That's an awful big word for you, George.

Aye, I swallowed a dictionary this morning.

-How does that taste, then?

-Like a radish.

JIM LAUGHS

You can't create partnerships, successful partnerships.

-They grow.

-They happen. Like you and Aly.

I mean, it happens and with George, a different generation.

There was a generation between us, but most important,

we complemented each other, we didn't compete.

This is what we need to go with a cup of tea.

Well, exactly, yes.

And isn't that a magnificent cake?

Aye, gosh, it's a beauty.

-You would just love to get...

-Oh, just a half each.

George Barron, of course, had the roof up when he was,

when he left me to go and do a wee jobbie in the potting shed.

The children were always waiting for George Barron to say...

"I'm just off to the greenhouse to do a wee jobbie."

A wee jobbie cracked them up,

because it was because it was sort of family code for,

for you know what.

-You got anything?

-I'm sure I have.

There was George Barron speaking this very, very

broad north-east accent,

which at times to other parts of the country

might have needed subtitles,

and Jim McColl, very much an Ayrshire lad,

also with a fine Scottish accent

and again, it made for great viewing entertainment and listening.

-You reckon there's going to be plenty of stuff in here?

-Well, I'm prepared for a complete...

-For a disaster.

-Again, yep.

People have asked me, "What makes you think you know?"

On that day one, when George Barron and I stood in front of a camera

'for the first time, he brought 50 years' experience to that spot

'and I brought 25, 30 years' experience.

'Now, if between us,

'we couldn't talk for three minutes about how to plant tatties,

'it's a bad show, isn't it?'

-Let's go and do something sensible, George.

-I think so.

'George, of course, was numero uno

'and then we've got Carole who's been with the programme'

for 30-odd years as well.

Now, I suggested to the bosses,

I says, "When George goes, I think we should have the quine".

-What?

-What?

I said, "Well, not only would you then have the male-female,

er, angle, but I said, she's English.

'Now that'll get them talking. You see, well, it's worked!'

-Welcome, Carole.

-Hello, Jim.

-But that really is a false thing

-because you've been here for quite a while, haven't you?

-I've been here three years now.

You've really been the petticoat government

-keeping us right for the last three years.

-Something like that.

But I never had a television, I only went there

for the gardening post, not to be a presenter.

The failures were equally, if not more important,

but equally as important as the successes.

I think we'll go for the big tip over, shall we?

-We'd better not muddle them up...

-THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

Watch this.

THEY LAUGH

There's nothing here!

It's not weight, it's numbers we're going for, right, boys?

THEY LAUGH

We'll see you! Ta-ra!

You'd better run!

That's a disgrace, that.

In recent years, Jim and Carole

have been joined by fellow gardeners, George Anderson

and Chris Beardshaw.

He is one of those rare individuals

who touches plants and touches the earth

and is never more content

than when he's got a trowel, or a spade, or seeds,

or the produce that he's gained from the garden, in his hands.

Working with Jim has been absolutely magical.

He and I share the same sense of humour.

-Off we go...

-You keep your eye on the road, George.

-You watch for speed cameras.

-Yes, yes, a bit of time travel, eh?

Absolutely.

-Stop!

-CAR SKIDS

I've been down in the south now for, oh, many years,

and it's an underprivileged life down here,

but one of the great things is

there is still a civilising influence

in that we get the Beechgrove Garden on our tellies from time to time.

We have...quite a few people are in touch with us nowadays

because we're broadcasting south of the border

and the interesting thing is they're not

so concerned about the timing, which I was.

It's not the when, it's the how and the why.

So, it's like that old suit of mine with turn-ups,

if I keep it long enough, it will come into fashion again.

Jim, I cannot believe that you're 80.

I am such a fan, I have been all my life.

Have a fantastic birthday.

Happy birthday!

He's one of those rare things on television,

somebody who's both entertaining

and knowledgeable, and long may he continue doing that.

The great Jim McColl, happy birthday and many happy returns.

Birthday greetings to Jim McColl

from one little Essex sunflower.

Happy birthday, mannie.

Jim and his lovely wife Billie have been together for 56 years,

or would that be 57?

56? Fifty...

-57 years.

-Ah.

-But this is our 56th...

-married.

-It's a long time.

-We met at a nurses' dance.

-Did you?

In a maternity hospital.

Not many men meet their wife in a maternity hospital, that's for sure.

That is true.

So, would you consider yourself to be the head gardener?

Yes, very much so.

And what would Jim's role be?

-Assistant.

-Yeah.

I get the job of being a consultant every now and again.

THEY LAUGH

I remember watching the Beechgrove programme

when I was involved in other projects, thinking,

do you know what, that's the garden I'd like to work in.

Happy birthday.

I really can't believe that after all these years

I'm actually standing in the Beechgrove Garden.

It's magic.

These guys are absolutely incredible,

all that knowledge and passion rolled into one.

I'm kind of wondering

if it's their equivalent of getting together for a tune.

I'm having wee shivers watching this, it's great.

Jim, this has been your whole life, you've been involved in this

-and you're 80 years old.

-Yes!

-What is your secret?

Well, I think as I've said before, I started into it very early on,

even when...on the farm, when I was a kid,

and keeping you out of mischief was simple, I'll give you a job to do.

And you move on through horticulture,

the job has to be done regardless of the weather,

you know, plants grow seven days a week, they need tending.

It all has an effect on you

and at the end of the day, the results are just stunning.

So, apart from the self-satisfaction of growing a crop,

or pruning a rose and seeing it come into flower next year,

all that sort of thing, it's the effect it has.

And you've managed to share that passion though,

-with the rest of the world.

-Yeah.

-How does that make you feel?

Humble, because I don't see I'm doing anything wrong!

Or anything different, for that matter.

It's just the way you want to be, isn't it?

You want to be happy when you go to bed at night

and sleep the night and when you go into company with people

and start talking about gardening,

it starts relationships and it builds confidence

and you get really good friends.

I was watching yourself and Carole and Chris

down below there working away and it's just a total joy to watch

the three of you enjoying this common passion together.

And if you had one piece of advice to give to someone

about to embark on the hobby of gardening, what would you tell them?

Well, you know how I repeat myself very often, it's not just age...

-Every day is a school day.

-Yeah.

Always be prepared to learn a new way of doing it,

or a better way or doing it, or whatever.

And having an open mind, I suppose.

There are one or two things where I'm...

don't ask me.

-How's my picking doing?

-I might change character a bit.

-How's my berry picking?

Well, we're not getting much if we're only getting paid a tanner a punnet, are we?

Jim, you're a horticultural treasure,

I so loved working for you.

Happy, happy birthday and many more.

It seems wholly appropriate to raise a glass to you, Jim,

the ambassador for Scottish horticulture

and not just the daddy, but the granddaddy of our industry.

Cheers, Jim. Many, many happy returns.

Happy birthday.

Can I have another take?

I know how old you are,

and by jings, I'm only months behind you.

I wish you a very, very happy 80th birthday

and I hope indeed you're nae thinking of retiring,

you're far too young!

Yee!

Hello, Jim. 80 years old, what a milestone.

Mind, I'm not far behind you, but happy birthday from Phil and I.

Yeah, Jim, happy birthday. All the best, man.

MUSIC: The First Train To Kyle by Phil and Johnny Cunningham

I know it so well!

But I don't know the name of it.

Well, it's actually called The First Train to Kyle.

And why is it so special to you?

Well, it was written by my late brother, Johnny Cunningham.

-Fiddler extraordinaire.

-He was amazing,

he was a very fine fiddle player and a great tunesmith,

he wrote loads of good tunes,

and that tune was written in the Flodigarry Hotel

and he had just travelled from Inverness to Kyle.

It's so well-known, and I didn't know that story, you see,

so there we are, I'm turning the tables on you.

Jim, I'd just like to say, without doubt,

you are one of my favourite hardy perennials.

Please keep gardening

and I wish you a very happy and a very special 80th birthday.

Play us out.

-Yeah, same tune?

-Yes. Of course.

Bye-bye.

THEY LAUGH

See you next week.

JIM LAUGHS