Outside Broadcaster: An Autobiography

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In 1994, Robson became the principal chairman of the long-running Gardeners’ Question Time programme, where amateur gardeners put questions to a panel of experts, stepping down in 2019 after nearly three decades. I was in Millom on Monday, to record a conversation with Eric Robson (of Gardeners’ Question Time fame) about Cumbrian poet Norman Nicholson.

It was a very simple format and the simplicity of the format saw it through the changing fashions that affected so many programmes. Jim said: “It has been a huge privilege to serve as chair of Cumbria Tourism’s Executive Board during the last three years.Radio 4 newsreader Kathy Clugston, who will become the show's first female host, said she was "honoured and excited" to be stepping into the shoes of "the great Eric Robson. I slackened the mounting bolts for the pump to the bulkhead and going down Edinburgh's cobbled streets it worked fine once on the main roads I drove along the gutters and after a bumpy ride managed to get home. It’s entirely my decision,” he insists, his mellifluous Cumbrian drawl booming about the empty hall of Manchester Grammar School where we are sitting ahead of his final broadcast.

He is an enthusiast for Alfred Wainwright and his Lake District fell-walking guides and launched Wainwright Society in 2002. There is a huge amount of work to be done following the pandemic and I am proud to be part of that effort. But the man who has spent decades clipping his panellists like so many wayward roses can’t resist adding: “I will keep listening. He was executive producer of Granada's Wainwright Country and consultant for the BBC's Wainwright Walks series.

Over the ensuing decade he became one of the BBC’s main outside broadcasters, covering events of national significance such as Remembrance Day, Trooping of the Colour, plus the 50th anniversary of the Second World War. Each will hold office for a term of three years; they will then retire and be eligible for re-election for a maximum of three terms. He has vivid colloquial language, he has an extraordinary, individual and deep perspective – man in the environment, man living on, through and up against geology. I regarded it as an honour to be allowed to read the original typescript of these; and I treasure his book, "Letters from America" and certain smaller publications which always came with one of his typical little notes. Eric’s successor as president is current Cumbria Tourism chairman Jim Walker, who has a breadth of senior management experience in a range of public and private sector roles, such as the chief executive of the Lake District Estates Group and head of cultural and tourism services at South Lakeland District Council.

In 1980 he presented the final episode of the first series of Great Railway Journeys of the World, produced by the BBC. I am now finishing the Brian Taylor Corsair I was building when interrupted by the arrival of the FW190, taking a little more than 10 days with this one. By the time he reached Form VI it was clear that his talent was outstanding and he had already decided to make historical study his life work.But for more than 35 years, he’s been one of the instantly recognisable voices of British broadcasting.

It is quite possible that some the more anecdotal aspects of the book are true, but if that is the case, it would have been far better if some the details had been left unrecorded. Communications and PR – Mark Holroyd from Forestry England is currently head of recreation and communications for their north region. On 20 February 1994 he became the principal chairman of BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time programme, [1] but announced on 20 March 2019 that he would be handing over his chair to Kathy Clugston, a BBC newsreader and continuity announcer, on 3 May 2019. Although come to think of it, when I read the final chapter I decided I agreed with his analysis of modern television.

Hating pollution and ugliness, he also believed the National Trust should preserve some mines, factories and pitheads, so that future generations could appreciate the achievements and struggles of the industrial age. The annual general meeting at the Castle Green Hotel in Kendal also saw the appointment of three new non-executive directors. No doubt quite a lot of people are cut off from gardening because all they can afford is a one-bed flat. Shortly after I took over, one of the old worthies said to me, 'you do realise Eric that there will be many places you go to where you and the panel are the only people in the room with your own teeth and hair'.