Guardian: Three months ago, a surgeon at Liverpool Heart and Chest hospital took a saw, ripped through my sternum, levered open my ribcage, cut into the aorta of my still-beating heart and stitched in a vein from my leg. The long, brutal operation was a great success. But it knocked me out and left me unable to walk more than a few paces.
As I recovered, I got to asking how had I got into this mess. I had always, I thought, kept pretty fit: I could happily walk all day in the hills, chop wood, play cricket...