Candidate Profile

THE CRUISE SHIP ENRICHMENT NETWORK
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EXPERTISE
Gardens & Gardening
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH:
BIOGRAPHY
For 35 years Colin was a Film Editor and Film Director at BBC TV mainly working on travel programmes including “Holiday” and Clive James “Postcards”, and also entertainment programmes like Victoria Wood, Hi De Hi, and Absolutely Fabulous.

After retirement he enrolled at Horticultural College to study for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Diploma in Horticulture. He is President of Sanderstead Horticultural Society and a Flower Show Judge for Surrey. Colin has traveled the world looking at and photographing the great gardens. He is also part of the team that has won nine Gold medals at the Chelsea Flower shows for displays of auriculars and succulents.
As an enrichment lecturer aboard cruise ships, he has just completed his 53rd cruise

His talks are designed to be amusing yet informative and to appeal to the enthusiastic gardener and equally to people with no knowledge of gardens and gardening at all.

TALK TITLES
TALK 1 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 GARDENS
A look at the greatest gardens on five continents. Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Africa. Each with its own unique endemic species.

TALK 2 - SECRET GARDENS OF LONDON
London is the greenest capital city in the world with over 600 public parks and gardens covering more than 67 square miles. I show the oldest, newest, highest and arguably the best.

TALK 3 - BLOOMING BRITAIN
Napoleon said the British were a nation of shopkeepers, he was wrong we are a nation of garden visitors with more than 3,000 gardens open to visit each year. I follow the seasons and show what I think are the best.

TALK 4 - GARDENS AND PLANTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
East or West Mediterranean? I have talks about the plants and gardens close to the popular cruise ports. Spring in Crete, Battle of Flowers in Nice, bougainvilleas in Tunis and roses in Monaco.

TALK 5 - GARDENS AND PLANTS OF MADEIRA AND THE CANARIES
These are the most popular destinations for garden lovers, with dozens of spectacular gardens. I have photographed most of them.

TALK 6 - GARDENS AND PLANTS OF THE ATLANTIC. SOUTHAMPTON TO THE CAPE.
The diverse range of pants and gardens on this journey is incredible. From the temperate gardens of the Isle of Wight, sub-tropical Canaries, tropical Senegal, St Helena and Ascension Islands, Namibia and the Mediterranean gardens of Cape Town.

TALK 7 - GARDENS AND PLANTS OF THE BALTIC..
In Spite of the harsh winters, the cities of the Baltic have many fine Botanic Gardens . I can speak about Copenhagen, Helsinki, Rostock.and Tallin's famous botanic gardens and the plants that thrive around the Baltic ports.

TALK 8 - GARDENS AND PLANTS OF THE CARIBBEAN
There are few indigenous plants in the Caribbean as all the original plants were dug up and replaced with sugar cane. What we see today is a tropical paradise populated with the most wonderful and colorful flowers from all over the world.

TALK 9 - GARDENS AND PLANTS OF FLORIDA
Florida is a subtropical gardeners paradise. Walt Disney has some wonderful gardens in Orlando and so does NASA at the Kennedy Space Centre, though some of their pests are alligators!

TALK 10 - GARDENS OF JAPAN
Japan in spring is awash with flowering cherry trees. The strolling and gravel gardens of Tokyo and Kyoto are as different and interesting as any I have seen in the world.

TALK 10 - FRANCE IN BLOOM
Louis X1V’s Versailles, Monet’s Giverney, Van Gogh’s Provence. The Battle of Flowers in Nice, The Orange and Lemmon Festival in Menton. Markets and gardens all feature in this journey through France.

TALK 11 - HOLLAND IN BLOOM
The Dutch tulip fields in spring are spectacular. The Kukenhof I think is the greatest garden in the world. The flower parades are amazing. I also visit the floating flower market in Amsterdam and the biggest flower auction in the world also the beautiful Frisian Islands

TALK 12 - ISLAND HOPPING
From Fiji to Corsica, The Greek Islands to the Isle of Wight. Islands have always had their unique appeal, climates and flora. In this talk I show ten of my favorites

TALK 13 - THE GARDENS AND PLANTS OF SOUTH AFRICA
Kirstenbosh gardens in Cape Town are regarded as one of the greatest gardens of the world. The Garden Route offers some of the most spectacular opportunities to view gardens, wild flowers and scenery.

TALK 14 - THE FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING
The spring flowers are the most welcome of all. I show a garden in Berkshire with two square miles of snowdrops, the crocus carpet in London’s’ Kew gardens. The Battle of Flowers in Nice. The first daffodils blooming in the Scilly Isles, the acres of tulips in Holland and their huge flower parade.

TALK 15 - THIS MAY KILL YOU!
More than 50% of our medicines are derived from plants. But those same chemicals that save our lives can have disastrous consequences. Colin shows just how good and dangerous our most common plants can be.

TALK 16 - HOW PLANTS ARE NAMED
Why was an apple called Granny Smith or a potato King Edward? How did the Shirley poppy get its name or the Protia and the Dahlia? In this talk I explain how plants are named and the fascinating stories behind many of those names.

TALK 17 - KEW GARDENS
The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew is said to be the greatest botanical garden in the world. This talk visits Kew through the seasons and goes behind the scenes to see the tropical propagation unit and the Herbarium which houses specimens collected by the great plant hunters including Darwin.

TALK 18 - RHS WISLEY
The Royal Horticultural Society’s garden Wisley. One of the best gardens in the UK. This talk follows the garden through the seasons and features the efforts the Society makes to promote gardening to a wide public.

TALK 19- 20 PLANTS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
There are over 400,000 plants on earth, some have made more impact than others, this is Colin's selection of plants that have made huge impact to our world.

TALK 20- BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW.
The Chelsea Flower Show is arguably the greatest flower show on earth. Colin is part of a team that has won five gold medals at Chelsea showing alpine auriculas. In this talk he takes you behind the scenes to show how an award winning display is put together.

TALK 21-MONETS GIVERNEY AND VAN GOUGHS PROVENCE.
Monet created one of the worlds great gardens in Northern France, while in the south Van Gough is remembered at the sites where he painted.

TALK 22- THE AMAZONIAN WATER LILLY.
When this fantastic plant was discovered in South America the race was on between the great gardeners to produce a bloom for Queen Victoria. This plant has also had a dramatic effect on the modern world. Colin will explain.

TALK 23- BLOOMING CHRISTMAS.
In this talk I cover the myths, legends and stories that refer to the plants associated with Christma. Holly and Ivy, Frankincense and Myrrh why do we have poinsettias? And are the stories of Father Christmas flying through the air pulled by reindeer, the result of Laplanders eating magic mushrooms?
CRUISE HISTORY / EXPERIENCE
I have completed 53 cruises as an enrichment lecturer. Most recently with Fred Olsen and Cruise and Maritime and Royal Caribbean, Previously I have lectured for Saga, and P&O.