The Gardeners' World Blog

So, here we go again - the grass court caravan rolls in to SW19, all-whites and best behaviour the order of the day, at stake the most prized trophy in tennis… Champion of Wimbledon!

From its humble beginnings in 1877 Wimbledon has grown to become one of the world’s greatest international sporting occasions, attended annually by some half a million fans, broadcast to over 175 territories with a potential reach of over 600 million viewers. The BBC acts as the host broadcaster for the 13 days of competition televising a total of nine courts and for the second year running both Centre and No 1 courts will be broadcast in High Definition (HD).

Coverage will be available on a dedicated BBC HD channel via the Sky Electronic Programme guide with a total of 12 hours per day with the best live and highlights play from the two main show courts between 1255 and 0100.

So here it is, the big one, the British Motorcycle Grand Prix, and more than 100,000 fans are expected to descend on Donington Park over the weekend.

It’s always a real privilege to cover your home Grand Prix, particularly as the championship this year has already produced some great racing this season and Donington is another good track for the riders.

However, the weather is also threatening to play its part - with torrential rain forecast for the weekend, the campsite may well be giving Glastonbury a run for its money at this rate. It could also turn the pre-race predictions on their head as we saw in Le Mans where Chris Vermulen took his maiden win earlier in the season.