Five years ago, on Tuesday (January 22), my darling wife and friend of 45 years, Lyndal Moor, died of cancer in the Wolper Jewish Hospital in Sydney.

Each day I miss Lyndal’s luminous beauty, her honesty, and her laughter.

How lucky am I to have spent our lives together for so long? And how fortunate I am to have recently spent a fortnight in America with our darling daughter Emerald, our granddaughter Ava (8, my grandson River (3), and my son-in-law Adrian.

Few people know that Lyndal, who was 45 years sober when she died, helped so many alcoholics in Brisbane and Sydney to become clean and sober.

It was my longtime friend Barry Humphries who arranged for us to meet on Guy Fawkes Day , November 5 1974, at Lyndal’s first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

When Lyndal ditched the mega-rich Clyde Packer to marry me on November 5 1976, Barry quipped, “Lyndal’s gone from diamonds to boiled lollies!”