Biography

Jim McColl was born in 1939 in Scotland. He was married to Billie. He died on October 23, 2024 in Scotland.

He had a career in academic horticulture, teaching at a number of universities and colleges before working for the ministry of agriculture, where he was based in Leicester advising commercial growers.

He also worked on setting up a waste energy project at Glen Garioch distillery in Aberdeenshire before making the move into television.

After leaving The Beechgrove Garden, he continued to write a gardening column for Aberdeen's P&J newspaper.

Originally from Kilmarnock where his father was a gardening supervisor responsible for all the parks in Kilmarnock.

He hosted the BBC Scotland's gardening programme Beechgrove Garden (1978) since it began in 1978, retiring after 41 years on screen in 2019.