My Saturday

Fresh out of TV retirement, 67-year-old fitness sensation Derrick Evans on walking in Manchester’s beauty spots, playing sudoku and eating sardine sandwiches

At home with Mr Motivator

5am I never sleep in. After years of GMTV [Derrick appeared on the ITV breakfast show until 2000], if I get more than five hours’ sleep, I wake with a headache. But Sandra [Derrick’s wife, 63] likes her eight hours, so I quietly sneak out of the bedroom. I always put my trainers and Lycra on – it’s important not to lounge around in your pyjamas. I have toast with peanut butter, banana and a cup of instant coffee. 7.30am Sandra and I work out – a mixture of cardio, conditioning and weight training. I am so grateful to the BBC for asking me to come back to present Healthcheck UK Live and provide fun exercises and tips on how to remain positive in this crisis. As a family [of his children, Carolyne, 47, Ebony, 42, Benjamin, 34, and Abigail, 23, only the youngest lives at home] we’re respectful of each other’s space, so it’s usual to find me in the kitchen and Sandra upstairs in the lounge. 12pm I have my Ready Brek – I don’t eat meat and this is really high in B12 – and call people who are important in my life. One is former Blue Peter presenter Tim Vincent, who is probably the only person I formed a friendship with in television. 2pm My wife loves walking, so we’ll go for miles. There are some beautiful places where we live in Manchester. 3pm Sandra bought me a saxophone years ago and I had been having lessons – it’s the one thing I desperately want to get back into. We also love sudoku; Sandra maintains the more you keep your brain mathematically active, the more you ward off dementia. 4pm We have dinner very early. I’m the cook and Sandra preps. Today it’s salmon with broccoli and mashed potatoes, coleslaw and green beans. 5pm I have a really hot shower. Then I have to moisturise – Sandra makes up a mix of coconut oil and lavender. 8pm We might have a sardine sandwich and a cup of Ovaltine. I’m really into having small meals throughout the day. 9pm I watch the news to keep up with what’s happening. My wife prefers to read. I only like autobiographies – Sandra just bought me Michelle Obama’s Becoming. 11pm I’m the first one to go off, as soon as I get into that bed that’s it.

(Healthcheck UK Live is available on BBC iplayer; Derrick’s autobiography The Warm Up is out now; Filament, £14.99 )