Are you healthy? I've got the constitution of an ox. I tend to get an annual cold at Christmas, when we close for a couple of weeks – it's more like a Himalayan mountain flu that would kill mere mortals, but I struggle on like a soldier.

Ever spent a night in hospital? Last year at our annual staff cricket match I dived for the last ball of the day and landed on my fingers. My index finger twisted 90 degrees, so it bent to touch my thumb. I didn't get to hospital until 8 o'clock the next evening. I'm no stranger to hospitals – I've broken my hand, fingers, toes, ribs, leg…

So you've had a few accidents? Yes. I fell off a roof when I was nine and snapped my femur. In those days you were in traction for a week for every year of your life, so nine weeks. And when I opened the restaurant the oven blew up on me. I had one kitchen porter with me and 10 people in for dinner, so I had to tell him what to put in the oven with a bag of frozen peas on one side of my head and a bag of frozen chips on the other.

Do you worry about your weight? I play racket ball every morning at seven, I go for a 12k run once a week, and I try to get to the gym once or twice a week, so I've lost about two-and-a-half stone in the past 18 months. My worst habit is getting home late after work, when my metabolism has slowed right down, and having a sandwich and a glass of red wine.

How much sleep do you need? Up until about two years ago, Tuesday to Saturday I would sleep for about three hours a night; but my short-term memory's gone, I need glasses… I'm now having about five hours a night, which is a lot better.

What's your attitude to smoking? I smoked for about three months in 1996. One bloke who worked for me looked like he got so much pleasure from a cigarette that I took two months to force myself to smoke. Then I got a stinking cold and stopped. It was stupid.

Are you happy? Very happy and very lucky. I wouldn't want to do anything else. Sometimes it's important to wake up and smell the roses.

The Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal is published by Bloomsbury tomorrow, £35