James Wong (ethnobotanist)


James Wong is a British ethnobotanist, television presenter and garden designer, best known for presenting the award-winning television series Grow Your Own Drugs and the BBC & PBS series Secrets of Your Food, as well as being a panellist on the long-running Radio 4 series Gardeners' Question Time,

Early life

Born in London to a Bornean father and a British mother, Wong was brought up in Singapore and Malaysia. Upon being awarded an academic scholarship, he returned to the UK in 1999 to study at the University of Bath. He then trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the University of Kent, gaining a Master of Science degree in ethnobotany, graduating with distinction.

Career

At the age of 27, Wong became the presenter of his own television series Grow Your Own Drugs. The award-winning BBC Two series demonstrates a number of natural remedies sourced from plants, and soon became the highest-rated gardening series on UK television. The show ran for two series, as well as a one-off Christmas special, Grow Your Own Christmas. Wong's first two books that tied-in with each series of the television show became international best-sellers, with his third title Homegrown Revolution becoming the fastest selling gardening book in UK history.
Wong is also a regular reporter on the hit BBC One rural affairs series Countryfile since its reformatting in April 2009, as well as being a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, and presenter of the Channel NewsAsia series Expensive Eats.
In his capacity as a garden designer, he has become a four-time Royal Horticultural Society RHS medal winner
for gardens he co-designed through the design studio he co-founded, Amphibian Designs, at the Chelsea Flower Show and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. In his first garden at the 2004 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, he became the youngest-ever medal-winning designer at the event, and is currently the youngest five-time RHS medal winner.
Wong has designed an Ethnobotanical Garden for the University of Kent, where he is a guest lecturer.
His research has taken him to highland Ecuador, as well as to China and Java.
In 2013 and 2014, he presented several episodes of Great British Garden Revival, winning 'Best Television Programme of the Year' at the 2014 Garden Media Awards.

Personal life

Wong lives in central London. He speaks fluent Spanish, English, and Mandarin Chinese.
His mother is from Newport, Wales, and Wong retains a slight southern Welsh accent.

Filmography