Dive into...DID I EVER TELL YOU THIS? by Sam Neill

Acting royalty Sam Neill, 75, shocked the world last week when he revealed he'd been diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer. In these two exclusive vignettes he wrote while undergoing chemotherapy last year, the Jurassic Park star recounts two heartwarming tales about his youngest daughter, Elena, 32, with the actor adding that writing them was a "lifesaver" for him.

WHAT DOES YOUR DADDY DO?

When my youngest daughter, Elena, was small and at a new school of some kind (I didn't like any of them much), the teacher asked the circle of little children around her, "What does your mummy or your daddy do for a job?" The little hands went up in the air and the answers flew thick and fast. My mummy's a lawyer. My daddy's a "countant" My mummy builds houses. And so on. When it came to Elena, the answer about me was both perceptive and entirely accurate.

"My daddy sits in caravans."

Yes, it's true. That's what I've done much of my life: sit in caravans, or trailers as they say in the USA. Sitting, waiting for someone to tell me what to do, somewhere near a film set. I used to sit and read the paper, or sometimes even the script. Nowadays I stare at my iPhone looking for enlightenment it's never there.

Once in a while, there's a knock on the door and the assistant to someone's assistant who is an assistant to someone else might kindly ask you if you'd like a cup of tea. Of course I would. If you're really lucky they might even bring you lunch, but that would be the assistant to the first assistant who brought you tea.

When Elena would visit me at work, that is what I would be doing. Sitting in a trailer, in a carpark somewhere, having a cuppa, waiting: her daddy at work.

It doesn't sound like a life well lived, does it? At least it's quiet.