David Gerald Hessayon OBE (born 1928) is a

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author and botanist of

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

descent who is known for a best-selling series of paperback gardening manuals known as the "Expert Guides" under his title Dr. D. G. Hessayon. The series started in 1958 with ''Be Your Own Gardening Expert'' and in 2008 it celebrated its 50th anniversary and the 50 millionth copy in print. They have become the best selling gardening books in history.

Early life

Hessayon is the son of a Cypriot landowner and grew up in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

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, England. He gained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

from

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. In 1950, he travelled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

where he worked as the editor of a small town newspaper. In 1953, he went to the

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as a Research Fellow at the University College before returning to Manchester to obtain his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

soil ecology Soil ecology is the study of the interactions among soil organisms, and between biotic and abiotic aspects of the soil environment. It is particularly concerned with the cycling of nutrients, formation and stabilization of the pore structure, the ...

. In 1955, he accepted a position as chief scientist with Pan Britannica Industries Ltd (PBI), becoming chairman in 1972. It was whilst working for PBI that Dr. Hessayon formulated the idea for his "Expert" guides to gardening.

The "Expert" guides

A steady stream of publications followed the initial ''Be Your Own Gardening Expert'', each maintaining the basic formula of down-to-earth writing broken up into short sections with headers, and illustrated with what were at the time lavish numbers of colour photographs, graphic images and charts. In later editions the ''Be Your Own ...Expert'' titles were changed to ''The ... Expert''. On the British bestsellers list for the 1980s, two Experts were in the Top 10. There are () over 20 "Expert" titles in 22 languages and in Britain their sales continue to dominate the gardening paperback lists. ''The Vegetable & Herb Expert'' continues to be the best seller.

Recognition

In 1993, Hessayon received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement award at the

British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by '' The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...

. He was also awarded the

Veitch Memorial Medal The Veitch Memorial Medal is an international prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Goal The prize is awarded to "persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement o ...

of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

in 1992 for his contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture. In 1999, he was awarded a

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

certificate for being Britain's "bestselling non-fiction author of the 1990s". Despite a resolve to stay out of the limelight, Hessayon has received further awards - a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Garden Media Guild, three

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

s David Hessayon , Honorary graduations 2008 , Media , University of Leeds
and, in 2007, an OBE.

Bibliography

Since 1959, Hessayon has written many books. Cover 1959 Expert

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hessayon, D. G. 1928 births Living people English gardeners Veitch Memorial Medal recipients English people of Cypriot descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire British garden writers Gardens in the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of Leeds British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Ghana