Sanders knew exactly what the new generation of amateur gardeners wanted, and his style of editing attracted a wide audience.
In 1934 Macself presided over the title's 50th birthday party, celebrating in grand style with a dinner for more than 300 people in the New Connaught Rooms in London's Mayfair.
In June 1940 the magazine left its offices in the City and moved to the Country Life Building in Covent Garden.
He carried on editing through World War II, even though paper restrictions had dramatically limited the size of the magazine.
During this period Amateur Gardening put its full weight behind the national Dig for Victory campaign, which encouraged everyone to grow their own fruits and vegetables to combat the wartime shortages.
During his years as editor he also contributed weekly to the Financial Times and regularly to Country Life and many other publications – and he wrote innumerable books.
Anthony was also the great-grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley, a renowned biologist who defended Darwin's theory of evolution when it was receiving considerable criticism.
Huxley was a keen and knowledgeable plantsman, and although he was supportive of amateurs generally, he was more interested in botanical integrity and ecology, particularly in the cultivation of house plants.
During his editorship, Wood steered the magazine through the technological revolution (the introduction of computers) and the turbulent periods of industrial unrest in the 1970s.
Clarke had been born into horticulture as his father had been a Superintendent (today known as a Manager) of Regent's Park in the centre of London.
The National Amateur Gardening Show, which was held annually between 1996 and 2008, was an idea conceived by Clarke, along with the magazine's then marketing manager Robyn Perrin.
The Show was a partnership with the Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, and was held annually in September.
[7] Clarke and deputy editor Adrian Bishop both gave evidence at the Inquiry into the current state of allotments in the UK.
In 2001 he was promoted simultaneously to editor-in-chief and publisher, which lead the way for the current deputy editor to move up, and Tim Rumball took over the reins.
The list of editors since the magazine's launch are as follows: Shirley Hibberd (1884–1886), T. W. Sanders (1886–1926), A. J. Macself (1926–1946), Arthur Hellyer (1946–1967), Anthony Huxley (1967–1971), Peter Wood (1971–1985), Jack Kendall (1985–1986), Graham Clarke (1986–1997), Adrian Bishop (1997–2001), Tim Rumball (2001–2017) and Garry Coward-Williams (since 2017).
Notable writers for the magazine have included Alan Titchmarsh, who also served as deputy editor, Monty Don, Charlie Dimmock, Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Percy Thrower and Peter Seabrook.
[9] In the 1930s the original owners of Amateur Gardening, the Collingridge company, sold the business to the larger Newnes and Pearson publishing group.
Eventually, The Mirror Group acquired Odhams, which resulted in one large company with many dozens of magazines under its belt.
I can't wait to share the first relaunch issue which will include many of the brilliant, regular contributors, plus some exciting new features and columns besides."
The acquisition also reunited the magazine with Amateur Photographer and World Soccer (both owned by Kelsey since 2020), for the first time since TI Media era.