Much-loved broadcaster, horticulturalist and writer Matthew Biggs has died aged 65 after a six-year battle with cancer. Matthew was informally dubbed 'the nicest man in horticulture', thanks to his big smile, infectious enthusiasm for plants and warm personality.
Best known for his appearances on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time and TV shows such as Channel 4’s Garden Club, Matt also worked as a toilet cleaner, jobbing gardener, television director, author and RHS judge. In a recent interview with Gardens Illustrated, he told us that he was used to “careering through life, ducking and diving to keep a roof over my head, and saying ‘yes’ to everything that sounded interesting or fun, then worrying about it afterwards”.
Born in Leicester in 1960, Matt was one of three siblings. “We had a strict upbringing,” he told us. “But my father regularly took the family on country walks and helped to inspire my interest in plants. He loved the open air, the beauty of nature, and of art, which has been my other life-long passion.”
After leaving school at 16 with a handful of O levels, he worked as a clerk for Leicester City Council before the lure of gardening took him in a different direction. “I went to the careers office and looked up jobs in horticulture. He signed on for a course in Ornamental Horticulture at Pershore College. "However, I needed practical experience, so before going to college, I worked as a gardener at the local parks department for a year, which mainly involved sweeping playgrounds and cleaning toilets.”
On graduating from Pershore, Matt found it difficult to get a job. “I have mild cerebral palsy and a weakness on my left side causes me to limp, which probably put people off in those less-enlightened times.” Undeterred, he went back to work for the council before applying for a diploma course at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where he won a prize for the Best Student Lecture and another for his thesis on Plants in Medicine.
After his studies, Matt worked at Kew as a visitors’ guide and staff training officer. During this time, he locked himself in Kew’s Economic Botany Collection so that he had the place to himself, and spent many happy hours delving into Kew’s unique collections and amassing the encyclopaedic knowledge for which fans of Gardeners’ Question Time know and love him.
In the following years, Matt set up a garden maintenance business, which he ran from the back of his old Mini. Then, one day, a friend asked if he would stand in as a presenter on a gardening phone-in show for LBC Radio. He said yes, thinking he’d be answering calls from two to three in the afternoon, but the programme actually went out between two and three o’clock in the morning. “I worked on the show for 14 years,” he said. “Among our loyal night-time listeners was Sven from Hampstead, who turned out to be the comedy legend Peter Cook.”
His guest slots on LBC opened up other media opportunities, including co-presenting Garden Club and directing Grass Roots for ITV. He was also asked to become a panellist on Gardeners’ Question Time, making his last, moving appearance on the show, in which he talked about gardening with cancer, on 15 May.
Alongside his broadcasting career, Matt also lectured widely on horticulture-related subjects, contributed regularly to national gardening publications and wrote many books.
While undergoing chemotherapy at Mount Vernon hospital in Hertfordshire, Matt had the idea to create a garden around the cancer centre. “During my treatment, I would always try and get to look at the garden and even sat in it once, but it lacked plants and despite the best efforts of volunteers, offered little inspiration as a healing garden... And then the thought suddenly came to me, wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get this garden improved? I had a lot on my plate, but when you have a thought like that, you can't just let it go.”
The first phase of works on what is now called The Matthew Biggs Sanctuary Garden took place between January and March this year, and fundraising is taking place to ensure the second phase, planned for this autumn, is fully funded. The planting scheme, which is being planted into sand, has been designed by Millie Souter, head gardener at Tom Stuart-Smith Studio, and the garden was built by landscaper Mark Gregory of Landform Consultants. lt will be planted and maintained by the Sunnyside Rural Trust. “I can’t believe how this project has come together," Matt told us. "It’s been awash with generosity, kindness and goodwill, without so many people saying yes and offering to work pro bono or for charity rates, my ideas during chemo would have never got off the ground... I just never expected this at all."
In April this year, Matt was awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH), in recognition of his outstanding contribution to horticulture. The medal is awarded to British gardeners who have made an exceptional and lasting impact on the practice, promotion or understanding of gardening. Fellow VMH holder, Roy Lancaster, said of Matt: "He is a credit to himself and the profession and a star to all who love plants."
Even during the darkest times of his cancer treatment, Matt looked for the positive. When accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Garden Media Guild in 2024, he urged the audience to "look for the silver lining, because there always is one." He received a standing ovation.
Matt was a regular contributor to Gardens Illustrated, and will be hugely missed not only for his meticulously researched articles, but also for his joyful, chatty emails. We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife Gill, and adult children Jessica, Henry and Chloe.
