As it happened for me, I didn't use any pills or patches and I didn't actually use will power. I had tried will power at least five times before and there was always the time when the loss wasn't worth the pain. Using will power, the longest I ever went without was five days.

Then my brother told me: Don't even try to quit, until you are absolutely ready. It's pretty easy then, he said.

The time came when I no longer wanted to be a smoker. I still wanted to smoke but I was sick of being a smoker and the fact that it was going to be difficult to quit was not the point: I was sick of being a smoker. All four of my brothers had stopped and I knew if they could do it, so could I.

So one Wednesday I told everyone that I was quitting on Sunday. That week I let myself smoke every bit as much as I wanted. Then Sunday night at bedtime, I threw the rest of the last pack in the fire, gathered and washed all the ashtrays and put them high in a cupboard, and went to bed.

Haven't smoked since - that was 1977.