A STOURPORT man who beat his 36-year smoking addiction has written a book to help other smokers kick the habit.

Author Clive Richards's Enjoy Giving Up Smoking details the mental techniques that he used when quitting in 1995.

Mr Richards, of Pullman Close, a former RAF engineering officer, explained why he decided to "intensively research" the subject of trying to stop smoking.

He said: "When I was trying to give up, I tried everything on the market. I used the patches, gum, hypnosis and acupuncture but it just didn't work for me. I then realised that it was more to do with the mind than anything else and the chemical addiction was just a part of the problem."

The author, who competed in world class table tennis and sailing events, used himself as a "human guinea pig" to develop the ideas about tackling the "nicotine monster".

He explained: "This book is different because it goes in depth into the subject. All of the pamphlets that offer things like the 10 points to giving up smoking are just nonsense," he added.

Mr Richards, who used to have a 60-a-day habit, believes that giving up smoking is the "one single action" that anyone can take to improve the quality of life.

He said: "I was terribly addicted to cigarettes. It was not unusual for me to wake up in the middle of the night because I had the urge to chain smoke".

People from as far afield as California have already bought the book, published by Enjoy Publications International.

It is available from all major bookshops or as a downloadable copy that can be obtained from www.enjoygivingupsmoking.com