Joseph Samuel Swift (born 25 May 1965) is an English

garden designer A garden designer is someone who designs the plan and features of gardens, either as an amateur or professional. The compositional elements of garden design and landscape design are: terrain, water, planting, constructed elements and buildings, ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

Television career

Swift is a regular presenter and designer on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Gardeners' World ''Gardeners' World'' is a long-running British gardening programme, first broadcast on 5 January 1968. The 2024 series is the 55th. Its first series was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. Up until 2020 most of its e ...

'', co-presenter on the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show,Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural So ...

, ''Gardeners' World Live'',

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, BBC's ''Small Town Gardens'', and design judge on BBC's ''Gardener of the Year''. He has been a presenter/designer on ''Take 3 Gardeners'' (with Cleve West and Ann-Marie Powell). He is a garden designer, and has been involved in BBC2's ''Gardeners' World'' since 1998. He is co-founder and Design Director of Modular Garden – a garden design and build company. left, Joe Swift presenting at the Craft and Garden Pavilion at the Devon County Show in 2023 Swift has designed many gardens on TV, including one for ''

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

'', many for ''Gardeners' World'', including the Bournville Garden, The 40-year garden, and for

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster and writer. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist. Early career Alan Fred T ...

's ''How to be a Gardener'' series. In 2009, Swift presented coverage of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show for the BBC. He was also one of the main presenters of the BBC coverage of the 2010

. In 2013, he presented two episodes of '' Great British Garden Revival''.

Writing

Swift has written for such newspapers as ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'', and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', on the subject of landscaping and home gardening. His writing also includes ''Gardeners' World Magazine'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', and various magazine and newspaper articles. He has written three books – ''The Plant Room'', ''Joe's Urban Garden Handbook'', and ''Joe’s Allotment'', published in April 2009.

Personal life

Swift's father was the actor

Clive Swift Clive Walter Swift (9 February 1936 – 1 February 2019) was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for h ...

, and he was the nephew of David Swift. His mother is novelist

Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and '' Je ...

, and his brother is academic Adam Swift. His sister Rebecca Swift (died April 2017) was a poet and founder of The Literary Consultancy. He is married with two teenage children. He is the design director of Modular Garden.

Bibliography

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References

External links

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Presenter biographies - Joe Swift
BBC - Gardening {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Joe 1965 births Living people British television presenters Designers from London English gardeners English Jews Mass media people from Newcastle upon Tyne Joe