TV star Monty Don is one of the nation's most famous gardeners. He has presented Gardeners' World since 2003 and has written dozens of popular books on the topic.

While he is easily recognisable now, however, this hasn't always been the case for the 71-year-old.

Monty told the amusing anecdote about how he held an empty book signing, and when someone eventually turned up, they were expecting to see someone else.

Speaking on a recording of BBC Gardeners' World live, Monty said: "The long walk is a bit, for those of you who don't watch the programme. Does everyone here watch Gardeners' World?

"It's like when you give a talk to people who are looking blankly at you. I once had to do a book signing, and nobody came. This was years ago.

"Nobody came, and suddenly a woman rushed in. We were going to pack up and go, she rushed in and got a pen out of her bag, looked up at me and went: 'Oh, you're supposed to be Jeremy Clarkson.'

"You go to a talk and people go: 'You're meant to be talking about cooking leeks."

It comes after the gardening icon hit back at a "nonsense" misconception about himself while explaining the importance of making mistakes in the learning process.

Speaking to the i newspaper, Monty said that, despite his decades of gardening experience, he still makes mistakes.

He said: "This myth that I am somehow the perfect gardener is nonsense. I make mistakes all the time. Literally every day. I've grown sweetcorn all my life.

"I know how to do it – I've done it hundreds of times with success. Last year, they were fantastic. This year, they've not germinated. I don't know why, because they were perfectly good seeds. But something has gone wrong."

Monty went on to say how he interviewed head gardeners for a book he wrote 45 years ago, and he made an astute observation throughout his research.

He said: "I interviewed around 20 of them around the country, all in their eights, and they all said the same thing: they didn't really begin to get good at gardening until they'd had some serious failures.

"Because if you succeed at something, you stop working out how you do it. Whereas if you fail, you really have to think: what am I doing wrong?"

Monty replaced the legendary Alan Titchmarsh, at the latter's suggestion, as the lead presenter of Gardeners' World in 2003. He took a hiatus in 2008 while he was suffering with an illness before returning three years later.

As well as Gardeners' World he presents the BBC's coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show and a range of other programmes including Monty Don's Spanish Gardens.