Even though listeners couldn't see that super-wicked grin of his, they could sense it. John delivered what I think of as 'visible radio'.
On New Year's Eve, my family looked to the future for brightness, cheer, health and happiness. I'm not sure I had a single negative thought in my mind. But 2010 was to start with some enormously sad, ungraspable news: John Cushnie, a friend and colleague for many years, died of a heart attack.
We last worked together on the Gardeners' Question Time Christmas programme. I now realise how lucky I was to have been there. John was on classic form, full of that eyebrow-raising, side-splitting humour that came so naturally to him. I can't bear forced or calculated attempts at wit, but his spontaneous humour always bought a smile to my face - and to the faces of millions of listeners.
His forcefully expressed dislike of certain plants - mostly veg! - was always amusing. I believe that if you say something with a sufficiently wicked grin, you can get away with it. Even though listeners couldn't see that super-wicked grin of his, they could sense it. John delivered what I think of as 'visible radio'.
We'll all miss him so very much, in so many ways. My kids (who once came on a gardening-themed cruise that he and I hosted) still call him "the John with the green tights". He said they were Leprechaun's tights and produced them with a flourish at the start of his rather serious gardening talk!
John was seriously special, and I know that we all send our very deepest sympathy to his family. I've lost a friend and colleague, and gardening has lost a magical talent. I thank the Cushnie family for sharing him with us all.
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