No the post title doesn't refer to Chris Beardshaw.. it refers to the guest blog below from a most unexpected but very welcome source. Yes it's the
Garden Monkey. Not gone and not forgotten!
These monkeys get everywhere.. take it away GM..
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I'm not sure what prompted it, but I've been thinking about the Six Degrees of Separation theory lately. You will, I trust, be aware of it - the idea that you can link any two people on the planet in six steps, by a chain of acquaintances and relationships.
The most well-known example is the Kevin Bacon one, where one can pretty much link any actor to Kevin Bacon, by a chain of no more than six steps, where two actors are connected if they have appeared in a movie together.
Of course the movie acting world is a relatively small one, so that it's fairly easy to connect people. The UK TV gardening world is even smaller, so that it's even easier to connect people and in fewer steps.
For example Monty Don to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in three.
1) Monty Don and Adam Nicholson were chums at university.
2) Adam is married to Sarah Raven
3) Sarah was chums at university with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
In fact I can actually do the same link in one step. Monty is godfather to one of Adam Nicholson/Sarah Raven's children, as is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
All very boring. It is much more fun to connect disparate and unlikely couples.
For example Joseph Pujol, the Parisian music-hall "fart-maniac" with Alan Titchmarsh.
Step One -
Joseph Pujol was played by Leonard Rossiter in the 1979 film Le Petomane.
Step Two - Rossiter played skinflint landlord Rigsby in the sitcom Rising Damp. In one episode, called the Good Samaritan, a suicidal tenant was played by the actor David Swift probably best known these days for his excellent part as Henry Davenport in TV comedy Drop the Dead Donkey.
Step Three - David is the brother of Clive Swift, also an actor and best known as the long suffering husband in Keeping Up Appearances.
Step Four - Clive is the father of Gardener's World under-presenter Joe Swift.
Step Five - Joe has mostly worked on GW with Monty Don.
Step Six - The corduroy loving Monty has now moved on and is no longer a presenter of GW - from which it is a short sixth final step to the most well known (living), former presenter of the programme - Alan Titchmarsh.
The possibilities are endless.