{{short description|British television presenter (b. 1965)}} {{Infobox person | name = Joe Swift | image = Joe Swift - gardener and TV presenter.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Joseph Samuel Swift<ref name="companieshouse_appointments">{{Cite web | url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/_l4khZMnLbB9Hi4zyGI8fkYriJc/appointments | title=Joseph Samuel SWIFT - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)}}</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|5|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = Newcastle, England, UK | occupation = Broadcaster, gardener | parents = Clive Swift<br/>Margaret Drabble | relatives = Adam Swift (brother)<br/>Rebecca Swift (sister)<br/>David Swift (uncle)<br/>A. S. Byatt (aunt) | website = {{Official URL}} }}
'''Joseph Samuel Swift''' (born 25 May 1965) is an English garden designer, and television presenter.<ref name="companieshouse_appointments" />
==Television career== Swift is a regular presenter and designer on the BBC's ''Gardeners' World'', co-presenter on the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, ''Gardeners' World Live'', Hampton Court, 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. Swift has designed many gardens on TV, including one for ''Comic Relief'', many for ''Gardeners' World'', including the Bournville Garden, The 40-year garden, and for Alan Titchmarsh's ''How to be a Gardener'' series.
thumb|left|Joe Swift presenting at the Craft and Garden Pavilion at the Devon County Show in 2023
In 2009 Swift presented coverage of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show for the BBC.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/hamptoncourt/coverage/tv.shtml TV coverage] BBC - Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2009</ref> He was also one of the main presenters of the BBC coverage of the 2010 Chelsea Flower Show.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea/coverage/tv.shtml Presenter Details] BBC - Chelsea Flower Show 2010</ref> In 2013, he presented two episodes of ''Great British Garden Revival''.
==Writing== Swift has written for such newspapers as ''The Independent'', ''The Evening Standard'', and ''The Sunday Times'', on the subject of landscaping and home gardening. 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, and he is the nephew of David Swift. His mother is novelist Margaret Drabble, and his brother is academic Adam Swift. His sister Rebecca Swift (died April 2017) was a poet and founder of The Literary Consultancy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/25/rebecca-swift-obituary|title=Rebecca Swift obituary|first=Melanie|last=Silgardo|authorlink=Melanie Silgardo|date=25 April 2017|access-date=1 January 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> He is married with two children.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BBC Two - Gardeners' World - Joe Swift|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/57zFN2SG2WC7YCvhhH910Rh/joe-swift|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref>
He is the design director of Modular Garden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.modulargarden.com|title=Home|website=Modular|access-date=1 January 2018}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * {{Cite book|last=Swift|first=Joe|title=The Plant Room. A Contemporary Guide to Urban Gardening|publisher=BBC Books|year=2001|isbn=0563551895}} * {{Cite book|last=Swift|first=Joe|title=Joe's Urban Garden Handbook|publisher=Quadrille|year=2008|isbn=9781844008377}} * {{cite book | date = 2 April 2009 | title = Joe's Allotment | last = Swift | first = Joe | publisher = BBC Books | isbn = 978-1-84607-672-5 }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{Official website}} * {{IMDb name|id=0842603|name=Joe Swift}} * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/factual/homesandgardens Presenter biographies - Joe Swift] BBC - Gardening
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Joe}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:British television presenters Category:Designers from London Category:English gardeners Category:English Jews Category:Mass media people from Newcastle upon Tyne Joe