Mark
Lane
BA Hons, Dipl, HonDoct (Arts), MSGD
TV and Radio Presenter, Garden Designer, Author, Columnist, Philanthropist at Mark Lane Designs Ltd
Entertainment
The first BBC gardening presenter and the UK’s first garden designer who uses a wheelchair. I am the gardening expert on BBC Morning Live and present for BBC Gardeners’ World and the RHS Flower Shows. I have been on Celebrity Mastermind, Pointless Celebrities and Celebrity Weakest Link. I used to be the Publishing Director for the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Managing Editor for the Arts publisher Thames & Hudson. In 2000 I was in a car crash which meant I had to rethink my life. I retrained as a garden designer and now have a multi-award-winning garden design practice working across the UK and overseas. I won Best International Garden & Landscape Design Firm 2021, Most Innovative Landscape Designer 2021 and the Best Landscape Architecture Practice 2023 in the Build Architecture Awards. For my contribution to TV and garden design I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Kent in 2022.
I am a mentor for the Media Trust and ScreenSkills Reframing Disability Mentoring Programme, in partnership with BBC 50:50. I am a Disability and Diversity Equity Ambassador for the British Association of Landscape Industries. I am a judge in the Landscape Institute International Awards. I was a finalist for Celebrity of the Year in the National Diversity Awards 2021. As far as my philanthropic work is concerned I am Patron of Core Landscapes and the Health and Wellbeing Ambassador for Thrive, who both use horticultural therapy to positively change disabled lives. I am an Ambassador for Melanoma Fund, Groundwork and Greenfingers and a global Ambassador for the pan-disability charity Leonard Cheshire. In addition, I am co-chair and Trustee for Gardening with Disabilities Trust. I write regularly for the horticultural press and have regular columns in Waitrose Weekend, Platinum, Daily Express and my first book Royal Gardens of the World was published in 2020 and remains in the top 10 most gifted books on Amazon.
“Disability, diversity and equality must be key to everyday life. To be included in the Disability Power 2023 is a great honour. Hopefully I can continue to help inspire other disabled people through my TV work, writing, garden design work and disability advocacy.”
Disability Power 100 2023 profile information has been self-submitted by the profile subject. Shaw Trust understands and respects that disability and impairment descriptors and language use varies from person to person. Shaw Trust assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or discrepancies in the content of this, or any other, profile page.
Image credit: Mark Lane Designs Ltd, Photographer Dan Barnett
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