Jim McColl (presenter)

James Hamilton McColl, MBE (1935 – 22 October 2024) was a Scottish horticulturalist, writer and garden presenter.

During the summer he would spend time working at his aunt Mary's garden or on a rose production nursery.

[3]"Before I got involved with Beechgrove, I was on a show when a chap from Perth rang in and asked for advice about growing a plant called Northern Lights.

I gave the caller plenty of advice on how to grow the plant, but then, just a few days later, the police got in touch, wanting to know the callers details"[7] - Jim McCollIn 1973, he worked with the Glen Garioch distillery to create a waste energy programme to utilize residual heat from whisky cooling to grow tomatoes.

[8] His appearance on Tomorrow's World was said to have impressed BBCs executives, who at the time were considering developing a television programme based on Scottish gardening.

[12] McColl continued to co-present Beechgrove for the next 41 years, with a four-year interruption in the late 1980s, when he was "unceremoniously removed" from the programme.

[13] In 2012, when the Beechgrove Potting Shed, a 20-year fixture of BBC Radio Scotland was cancelled for cost-cutting measures, he was vocal in his disappointment, describing the decision as "insulting".

[16] McColl retired from Beechgrove in 2019, when diminishing grip strength from neuropathy made it difficult for him to present gardening techniques on the programme.