Published 2007. My father belonged to the old school, stiff upper lip brigade of men who 'never complained, never explained'. I think it killed him. He went from being a hale countryman who walked the entire cliff paths of Cornwall one year to a frail heavy-breather...

Commissioned by The Times A QUESTION OF SURVIVAL Turning 60 represents both a biological achievement and a psychological threat. On the one hand you realise you are a survivor. Several of your contemporaries will already be dead. Perhaps a lover with whom you once enjoyed the greatest...