I should have known that I might not like what my brain scan showed, just as I should have known that the symptoms of prostatism that were increasingly bothering me were just as likely to be caused by cancer as by the benign prostatic enlargement that happens in most men as they age. But I continued to think that illness happened to patients and not to doctors, even though I was now retired. Twenty months after I had my brain scanned, I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. I had had typical symptoms for years, steadily getting worse, but it took me a long time before I could bring myself to ask for help. I thought I was being stoical when in reality I was being a coward. I simply couldn’t believe the diagnosis at first, so deeply ingrained was my denial.

I would really love to know my parents as an adult. I lost my dad when I was 14 and my mum when I was 20.

My mum died in her early 70s, and for the last six or seven years of her life she couldn’t move, didn’t speak. By the time our children were born, she was too ill to communicate. I haven’t many regrets in life, but I do regret that they never got to know her, even though she was still alive for a few years. They couldn’t see her warmth, her spirit, her courage.

I would have had more time with my dad before he passed away.

Right now is a pretty good time in my life. I am existing on three-monthly check-ups, but, yeah, I am very grateful.

An artist travelling and playing with the Stones.

I don’t really owe anybody any apologies.

My metabolism. Ever since I was a little kid, I was always up halfway through the night.

I can dodge the bullets – I’m lucky.

Paintings and guitars. I have Picasso prints and one Rembrandt etching.