In the week , Roger Moore is knighted , the former 007 talks exclusively to Nina Myskow about the heart attack that nearly cost him his life. Bond bombshell Presented by Alan Davidson webmaster

When Roger Moore collapsed on stage in New York in May he thought he had just fainted because of the heat. The legendary star had no idea that his condition was life-threatening, and that within 12 hours he would undergo an emergency operation to have a pacemaker fitted. I never thought I "was dying,' he tells me. A statement which will astound his family and friends, who have always described him fondly as a hypochondriac. `They say that,' he grins. `But I'm not, you know. A hypochondriac is some one who thinks they're sick. I know I am. But I don't think of my own mortality, thank you very much. I'm certainly not ready to go yet. As for my life flashing before my eyes, I think that would have killed me. And he laughs. It wasn't until I got into the emergency room in hospital and there were doctors coming from all over the place, doing all sorts of tests, that I realised it might be serious.'

He raises an eyebrow. You'd never know the gravity of the situation from the diffident way he describes the dramatic event. A charming man who is delightful company, he has a wicked sense of humour, which is never far from the surface:' Always self-deprecating, he likes to keep things light.

Roger was starring as the surprise guest in the award-winning British comedy, The Play What I Wrote, Morecambe and Wise tribute directed by Kenneth Branagh, which had just transferred to Broadway. The play within the play is set at the time of the French revolution, and featured many guest luminaries like Jerry Hall, Sting and Kylie. `I play the Comte de Toblerone Swiss and a little bit nutty, in breeches and ' a floppy shirt.' He grins at the absurdity of it. I am persuaded by Hamish, McColl, who plays the Morecambe-ish character, to get into a frock to escape from the Bastille disguised as a woman. `I jump into the frock - very heavy - put the wig on, and then we have this energetic dance. It was very, very hot in New York, and we finished the dance, and I was supposed to say something, and I went to say it, and heard this terrible bang. `It was my head hitting the floor. Fortunately, I had this big wig on, which protected my head, and then I heard Hamish saying, "Are you all right?" I thought, "What's the silly chap asking me I'm all right for? What's he doing in my bedroom?" I sat up and saw the audience, all with their mouths open. Then the curtain came down.

His wife Kristina - they married 18 months ago - witnessed the event. 'Poor Kristina was at the front, she always comes to every show, so it was a shock for her when I keeled over. The audience started to laugh when I crashed backwards, thinking it was part of it. And she thought, "Oh, that's a new bit. He didn't say he was going to put that in. Then the curtain came down and she realised something was wrong. They got her and brought her back. She was calm on the outside but panicking inwardly, typically Swedish I was in a chair, saying I was fine, but she said, "Get a doctor." I said, "OK - but only in between shows: I felt better after a moment or two. Then after five minutes, the curtain went up again, and I finished the matinee. The paramedics arrived as soon as I came; off the stage. Enormous guys, about 40 stone, thank God, because they had to carry me with lines in my arms and a mask on, in a chair, down one of those spiral staircases to the ambulance.

It's an irony that the man who normally thinks that every ache is terminal was not frightened. `I thought it was over the top,' he' says, `that they were making a lot of fuss. But when they brought in a cardiologist in Emergency, I got them to contact my own cardiologist in California so they could compare notes. He told me; "You need a pacemaker to be put in. tonight. Not tomorrow, tonight. The' next time you won't get a warning." And that's when I understood.'Roger had suffered a syncopaI attack. `The heart's fine,' he says. `It's the electric, impulse, the third chamber not pumping the oxygen up quick enough. They did the operation at eight the next morning.'

He left hospital 24 hours later, and that night made a 20-minute speech, as planned, at a Unicef fundraiser at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Two days later he flew back to London. `I felt great,' he ' says. `Not that chirpy - I didn't feel like going ballroom dancing-but fine.' He is quite proud of his pacemaker. Elton John and I were taking our shirts off a couple of months ago at the Colombe D'Or (the legendary restaurant in the south of France), showing our scars off. Being Elton, he has a very nice platinum zip on his, so they don't have to undo the stitches,' he jokes. And adds, `Do you remember Eric Morecambe used to thump his chest, and say to his heart, "Keep going, you fool!" Well, "Keep going, you fool!" He thumps his chest and grins. We are sitting in the vast, baroque opulence of the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, a perfect setting for the former 007. The famous splendour of the Casino is just steps away, beyond the Bentleys and Ferraris of the Bond wannabe's parked out front. Roger lives in Monte Carlo in summer, and Switzerland in winter. Dressed Riviera-style in white trousers, white slip-on shoes - no socks - and blue and white striped shirt, an outfit which sets off his tan and accentuates his twinkle eyes, he looks the picture of health, and years younger than nearly 76 (his birthday is in a little over a week). Looking at him, it is hard to imagine the gravity of the situation he found himself in. A long-time survivor of prostate cancer, Roger looks athletic, fit and sprightly. I used to work out every morning for 45 minutes, and play tennis for two hours. Then I had knee surgery and couldn't jump around-the court. I ski, but I don't do all the sit-ups that I used to. I have a back problem. All those years of being thrown around, bashing yourself in stunts, eventually it does take its toll. It's a b****r, not to put too fine a point on it. Its not that I don't want to be a burden to anyone, it's that I don't want to be a burden to myself, to feel rotten. I like feeling well. Love it. Someone once told me, "Life is wonderful, old age is awful!" That's why I'm into preventative medicine. I love chemists.' He speaks longingly of Boots, and then his face lights up at the thought of his favourite specialist chemist in London -'John Bell and Corydon-fabulous. `Do I take vitamins?' He rolls his eyes. `About 400 a day.' We cross-reference our intake, `Selenium, yes, lecithin, ginkgo biloba: do you take kelp? They vary from day to day as I read about new things. We were in Dubrovnik recently, and a man we met there asked if we could get this product, which helps fight the effects of Parkinson's, for his mother. She needs three sachets a day. So, when I got home, I got on the web.' He is a dab hand at email. `They said, "Our manager happens to be in Monaco and will deliver it to your apartment. He delivered it the next day, and I sent, off a number of packets to Dubrovnik. : I've kept the rest, of course. I thought, "God, I'll try this stuff!

He has cut out bread in the last six weeks. `Everyone needs to lose weight,' he says. `But I'm certainly not on the Atkins Diet - it does indescribable harm to your system.We need carbohydrates. The only way to lose weight is to keep your mouth shut. Don't lift your arm up so much. Just say no. Chew something 20 times instead of two. He enlisted the help of hypnotist Paul McKenna, a friend of his daughter Deborah. `It was auto-suggestion. He told me to think of something I really hated the taste of. That was easy coriander, I can't stand it.' And he shudders. `It makes me feel violently ill. Then I had to mix the coriander with the bread mentally. So now, when I touch my arm, which is the trigger, I can feel the saliva going, and I can't swallow' As he touches his arm, his face contorts, and he looks like he's going to be sick. `That's disgusting! Bread has somehow become disgusting. I don't want it any more. Paul's very good, very clever. Thank God I didn't say, "Can you help me give up chocolate? Or ice cream?"

An endearing, easy-going character, it's hard not to like him enormously. It's difficult to match him to stories of the acrimonious divorce from his third wife, Luisa, whom he left after 38 years of marriage for Kristina. However, all unpleasantness appears to be in the past - despite rumours of rifts, he speaks to his three children, Deborah, Geoffrey and Christian, on the phone every day - and he radiates contentment.

`I've been very lucky. I never imagined that at this stage of my life I would have a relationship like this. Kristina is very calm, serene, gentle and sensitive. We're always together I don't go anywhere she can't come with me. And she's great when I make a speech for the charity. `The night before, I get the same recurring actor's nightmare that I've had for decades I can't get into the theatre, can't get made up, I haven't had a rehearsal, the curtain's going up and they won't let me see a script. I wake up sweating. `In fact, I've never dried. But when I make a speech, I don't write it, I just get up and talk, and sometimes get sidetracked and forget things. Kristina is a great prompt. I can tell just by looking at her. She's wonderful. I'm very, very happy.' They lead an idyllic summer life in Monaco: `I hadn't lived in an apartment since my struggling days,' he says. `I rather enjoy it. I don't have to worry about a pool, or a garden, or living-in people. Kerry Packer said, "There are two great moments in a man's life. One, when he buys his first yacht. Second, when he sells the thing!" But we have a good boat, a 41ft Sunseeker, and I don't need anyone to turn I steer, and Kristina ties the fenders off. She is my crew. We keep it in the next port round from the main harbour, and go out every day - somewhere like Villefranche or Cap d'Ail, and swim. We have lunch, then a kip down below. Then we come up for a swim and go home.' It's a glamorous existence in anybody's book, but he's quick to shatter the image. `Michael Caine and a mate once decided, "Let's call Rog in Switzerland, see what he's up to." I said, "I'm sitting here eating beans on toast, watching Dad's Army!"' Although he rarely goes to the cinema, he's addicted to British TV comedy and adores his prized videos of Absolutely Fabulous, Only Fools and Horses and Keeping Up Appearances. `Kristina loves them, too. She understands British comedy, otherwise she wouldn't have married me. Marrying me shows she has a sense of humour.' He says they take care of each other, and it's mutual, but that she is more particular about his well being since his collapse. `She'll say, "Let's have a couple of nights in." He has been told to cut down on his traveling, but takes his role as a Unicef ambassador very seriously, and has made many field trips to the under privileged areas of the world since his friend Audrey Hepburn got him involved.

You suddenly realise how fortunate we are. We turn on a tap, water comes out. We touch a switch and a light comes on.' He talks passionately about the problems in Zambia: `Drought, Aids... if the parents are still alive, they're too weak to " work. Old people can't, so the children ' have to. We go to places and there are no adults, only children. It's frightening. ' And yet they are far more civilised than we are. You don't find people scrambling over one another to get things. We went to a schoolhouse, and I ' asked one child, `When did you last eat?' She said, "Yesterday morning." How can a child learn on an empty stomach?' " He looks bleak, but adds, I am enormously impressed by their spirit and courage. They're not saying, "Give us something." They want to know how to do things. So we provide the sanitation '"the engineer, the PC tubing, and they supply the labour. We supply the knowledge. I say that I feel guilty that all I've ever done is send Unicef Christmas cards. `But that's wonderful,' he cries, beaming. `Every time you do, it helps immunize ,a child, helps bring water. When the card arrives on the doormat, it creates awareness, so important. And for every pound raised, nine pence goes on administration, 91 pence goes to the children. He never imagined years ago that he would be involved in work like this. `When I was swarming around the world as James Bond, my priorities were, would my jacket be pressed, and what's for lunch? I just never noticed the poverty. It has changed my life. Made me less aware of my own problems, more aware of other people's.'

It is for this work he is being ' knighted this Thursday by the Queen. He is understandably delighted. `I feel unworthy, I guess,' he says with genuine modesty. Very lucky.' Sir Michael Caine was one of the first of many to congratulate him. `He called and said, "Welcome to the club, Rog."' He adds, with mock dismay, `Cost me a fortune replying to everyone.' He is allowed three guests. When he got his CBE, he was accompanied by his three children, but this time, because Christian is in America, Kristina will becoming, along with Deborah and ' Geoffrey. You can tell he's thrilled she will be by his side. They are off the week after , the investiture on another Unicef trip, this time to Vietnam and Cambodia. I ask what she has brought to his life, and he pauses. The most blissful smile ' spreads across his face, and he utters one word, `Peace.' And continues smiling. What do I want from the future? A 'few more years with Kristina of course - maybe 50 or 60.' He laughs again, and then adds simply, `She is what life is about.' As we leave the suite, he confides, `The one thing I'm dreading about the ceremony is, will I be able to get up after I've knelt? I mean, how embarrassing would that be? I think I'll have to rehearse.' Then ' he roars with laughter at himself. `I'll just have to get a choreographer in.

To support Unicef UK's Africa Children's Emergency' Appeal, call 08457 312 312 or make a donation on www.unicef.org.uk

From The Mail On Sunday October 5 2003