My knees have always taken a pounding. When I was younger, I helped out on the farm where I lived, lifting heavy things, and I've always been sports mad.At school, I played rugby, cricket and polo, and later took up skiing and golf.

At 17, while in Australia, I became a professional rodeo rider. So I wasn't surprised when my knees started to become painful in my mid-50s. At first, they were a bit sore after sport, but then the pain was there all the time. Then last November, as I was walking upstairs in the office, I put my right foot down and heard a huge crack. Pain shot up my leg, from my knee to my thigh. It was agony. When I got home my knee was swollen, so my wife drove me to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester. An X-ray showed nothing was broken, so the doctor told me to see my GP. I asked my GP to refer me to the London Knee Clinic, so I could be treated quickly. I went to the clinic a few days later and had an MRI scan, which showed that my cartilage - the smooth layer between the bones - had worn away. The pain I'd had had been caused by the ends of my bones rubbing together. When my knee had cracked, it was the result of years of wear and tear. Mr Evans said I would need some form of replacement to do the job my cartilage used to do. He said the traditional way was to do a full knee replacement, but this could leave me out of action for months. He recommended I had a partial knee resurfacing operation. He explained the knee is split into three compartments and I needed only one mending. If all three are damaged you need the bigger op. Instead, he could smooth off the ends of the bone that had become jagged from them grinding together. Then he would put a metal surface over the end of each joint. A thin plastic disc would be slotted in between them as the new cartilage - the two metal surfaces would glide rather than rub. The best news was that I'd be able to go home within three days rather than six to ten because I'd be keeping all the undamaged parts of my knee joint. Also the joint would bend more naturally than with a full implant. The operation was booked for January. When I woke up after it, I wasn't in pain - it was incredible. Now I'm back playing golf, gardening and running after my grandson Charlie. I'm so pleased I had the op. I went home two days later and after a week I was walking normally again. I can barely see the eight-inch scar.