DIY Presenter Harry Greene Dies aged 90

Image is taken from and is a link to Mike’s Smiths blog on Harry

Harry Greene passed away on the 4th March, aged 90. He is perhaps best known for his popular TV series Dream Home, shown in the 1980’s.

The premise of the show was to completely overhaul a run-down house. Harry persuaded Greg Dyke at TV AM to buy a rather derelict property so that they could film the building processes involved in renovating and converting it, before it was given away as competition prize by the television company. (I wonder if the winners are still in it?)

Working for the BBC he then televised building a house from scratch in the car park of the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, it was called On the House, remember that?

His shows were the forerunners for all the popular shows we see on our TV these days, shows like Grand Designs and George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces owe a debt of gratitude to Harry.

Reading about him on his son-in-law, Mike Smith’s blog we understand he also presented on the QVC shopping channel for 10 years, that is not a channel we tend to tune into, but I bet he was brilliant at selling all the new gadgets and gismos.

I was also really interested to hear that his name was actually Harry Greenhouse, which seems so apt given the area of work he was in – he could only have been a gardener, to make it more appropriate! He shortened his name for showbiz purposes, to make it more memorable, displaying his unerring ‘personal touch’.

So we salute you Harry, and we take heart in the fact that DIY obviously leads to a long and productive life.

If you want to read more about Harry – click on the image at the top of the page.