CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS?
Yes. But I don’t much like exercising. I’d never join a gym, but I walk and am generally active. My fitness regimen is doing exercises for my back every morning while my porridge is cooking.
GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?
Sometimes more.
I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, particularly kale, broccoli and spinach, which all help fight age-related macular degeneration — I was diagnosed years ago and it’s hardly changed.
I also have blueberries on my porridge.
Jan Leeming at her home in Kent last year. ‘I eat lots of fruit and vegetables, particularly kale, broccoli and spinach, which all help fight age-related macular degeneration,’ she says.
EVER DIETED?
When I was in my 20s in Australia. I had been touring with a company, taking potted Shakespeare to the Outback.
We had hours to fill, which often meant milky coffee and cakes. Afterwards I weighed 9st 10lb (I was 5ft 5in although I’m now 5ft 3in).
I tried various diets and slimming pills but eventually healthy eating took off the weight.
Now I loosely follow the Hay regimen of not eating carbohydrate and protein in the same meal.
I weigh 8st 2lb and, apart from pregnancy [she has a son], have weighed roughly the same since the Sixties.
Taken at the ‘Gone With The Wind’ press night in London in 2008. ‘I weigh 8st 2lb,’ she says. ‘Apart from during my pregnancy, I have weighed roughly the same since the Sixties’
ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?
My father had pleurisy as a young man, which left him with a collapsed lung — but he still lived to four months short of 100.
He had bronchial problems all his life but was an active gardener and I think that helped.
I had asthma until my tonsils were removed at age seven (the tonsil beds grew again so I had them removed in 1974). My sister developed asthma later in life, but mine never came back.
WORST ILLNESS OR INJURY?
A car accident in 1967 that smashed up my face, leaving me with a compound fracture, where the bone pierces the skin of the nose. I had to have plastic surgery.
HAD ANYTHING REMOVED?
Apart from my tonsils, I had a hysterectomy in 1998. I had it in mid-December and on Christmas Day had 14 people to lunch.
From the BBC documentary The Real Marigold Hotel, in which Jan Leeming is a presenter. Taken at the Taj Mahal with singer Patti Boulaye
EVER HAD PLASTIC SURGERY?
Other than on my fractured nose, definitely not. My face is ‘lived in’ and portrays my character.
COPE WELL WITH PAIN?
I don’t have a very high pain threshold. If I need to take medication, I will.
IS SEX IMPORTANT?
As I’ve lived alone for 13 years, I can’t answer that one. But it was.
TRIED ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE?
I wanted to stop taking HRT so I’ve tried Evening Primrose, Black Cohosh, you name it, but nothing worked. HRT agrees with me so I’ve stayed on it for 27 years.
Taken at Jan’s home in Kent last year. The TV presenter and newsreader says she would not have plastic surgery, as her face is ‘lived in and portrays her character.’
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?
A few times in my life but it’s true that time is the best healer.
HANGOVER CURE?
On those few occasions when I’ve had a hangover, vitamin C has helped clear it.
WHAT HEALTH BOOK HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE?
The only piece of health advice I heeded was to ‘eat according to your blood group’. Mine is A positive.
A vegetarian regimen is more suitable for that group — I don’t eat much meat.
Taken at Jan’s home in Kent. ‘The only piece of health advice I heeded was to eat according to my blood group’, she says. ‘ A vegetarian regimen is more suitable for group’
BIGGEST PHOBIA?
It was snakes until I did I’m a Celebrity in 2006 — but being in a box with a dozen varieties cured that.
I’m a trifle claustrophobic — I don’t like going on the London Underground.
LIKE TO LIVE FOREVER?
Absolutely not. I don’t even want my parents’ longevity (my mother died at 94). My friends in their 90s assure me it’s not a good place to be.
Jan Leeming is a brand ambassador for Just You, the single traveller specialist. For further info about Jan visit jan-leeming.com