Are you healthy? I think I'm very healthy, for a number of reasons - genetics, my mother is 96, I keep fit, I eat well and I'm happy, if a little neurotic.

Are you happy? Yes, I say with caution. I have a great deal of joy in my life and I'm very fortunate. That combination makes you aware of just how wonderful life can be on the one hand and how dreadful it can be for people on the other. You can't be happy in isolation.

What exercise do you take? I cycle, I take an hour's strenuous walk in the evening, I play tennis twice a week with a trainer and I sail. I used to ride horses professionally - I'd ride seven or eight horses a day, so I had to be fit for that.

Ever spent a night in hospital? Recently I had a hip resurfaced. It's different from a hip replacement because it's done with titanium. I like to think that it's the consequence of riding horses so strenuously, but I fear it's much more mundane and was just early-onset arthritis.

How much sleep do you need? Seven hours, but I'm a light sleeper. I wake up very easily and then lie there for those terrible hours between three and four while my brain goes on uncontrolled overdrive.

How much do you drink? I like to think I don't drink very much but in fact I probably drink well up to the limit that is statistically approved of. At 7 o'clock, before we prepare supper, I have a glass of wine watching the Channel Four news. That's real relaxation, and I like to think it's good for me, except the news is so dire that it fills me with despair.

Attitude to smoking? For a few months when I was about 17 I smoked a small cigar because I thought it looked cool and it would get me the girls. It didn't.

And drugs? When I was a young reporter in Africa I once had some cannabis and again as a reporter in the wild days of the early 70s I had one sniff of cocaine at a party, and in both cases it had absolutely no effect whatsoever. That's been my total first-hand acquaintance with drugs.

How do you feel about cosmetic surgery? It's daft. Just look at what happens to women who have cosmetic surgery when they run out of skin to tighten: they look distorted. It's about grace - cosmetic surgery doesn't add grace.

I swear by... Glucosamine, for the effect it's had on my arthritis. I reached the point where when shaking hands with someone who had a firm handshake I found myself involuntarily screaming with the pain. It's ridiculous: you walk into the American embassy, the ambassador shakes your hand and you scream, and it's nothing to do with your views on Iraq. Now I have no problem, and I attribute that to glucosamine.

• Jonathan Dimbleby discusses his book Russia at a platform chaired by Sue MacGregor on 16 April at the National Theatre (nationaltheatre.org.uk)