Under the microscope

CAN YOU RUN UP STAIRS?

I CAN, but I don’t like running down, I prefer to walk briskly — it’s safer. In my youth I was a gymnast, but in later years Pilates took over. It strengthens you and makes you feel great.

GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?

I LOVE salads and vegetables and rarely eat red meat. I have coffee for breakfast, a light lunch of salad or eggs and allow a 12-hour gap between dinner at night and my next meal.

EVER DIETED?

ALL my life. As a teenager, I drove my mother mad when I decided I’d eat only what I’d scavenged in the wild, such as dandelion leaves. I am just under 5ft 6in — I was two inches taller but have shrunk. I used to be the tallest in school, but now I look up at people. I aim to be 9 st 9lb but hover between 9 st 10lb and 10 st.

HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOU?

APART from one horrible fortnight, when my youngest daughter Pat was in hospital with Covid, I had a great time. I read a lot, did Pilates, studied Welsh online and went for walks.

ANY VICES?

I DON’T drink, I don’t smoke — I quit 40 years ago after a trip to a hypnotist. My weakness is sugar. Because of food rationing after the war, I didn’t eat sweets at all. Now I could consume huge quantities if I allowed myself to.

ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?

MY FATHER died in his 60s from various problems, probably linked to childhood tuberculosis. My mother’s family was long-lived. She even took up smoking again aged almost 80 — having stopped for years — and died from lung cancer at 85.

WORST ILLNESS?

SHINGLES. I had it 12 years ago when I was in Calendar Girls in the West End and it was torture. As a child, I had scarlet fever twice. And, once, I collapsed in the road with a burst appendix and was rushed to hospital.

EVER HAVE PLASTIC SURGERY?

NO, BUT when I was in my early 20s I had reconstructive surgery on my face after I was in a car accident and went through the windscreen. Now I have Botox every six months to smooth a scar between my eyebrows.

COPE WELL WITH PAIN?

I CAN put up with a fair amount. After the car accident, for example, I was in pain but I didn’t stop working.

POP ANY PILLS?

NO.

EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?

I DON’T get depressed in the clinical sense. I sometimes feel low, but I take a walk and soon cheer up.

HANGOVER CURE?

NEVER drunk enough to find out.

WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?

NOT much. Before I can think of a worry, sleep overtakes me. Sian PhilliPS’S autobiography, Private Faces and Public Places, has been reissued (Sceptre, £12.99).