'Beginner's Guide to Dying' that brought comfort to the world

Terminally-ill Simon Boas has inspired millions with his reflections on life and death. As he moves into a hospice, it has been revealed his poignant open letters are to be collected in a book

- Kat Hopps

WHEN Simon Boas learnt he had terminal throat cancer aged just 46, he could have retreated into solitary sadness. Instead, he began writing a regular newsletter, titled A Beginner's Guide to Dying. After first appearing in his local paper, it quickly went global, inspiring millions worldwide.

A poetic salute to the beauty of life, filled with stoic wisdom and wit, lines like, "The prognosis is not quite, 'Don't buy any green bananas' but it's close to 'Don't start any long books"" made people laugh and cry.

Having been diagnosed in February, the charity director and former UN aid worker recently revealed how tumours in his throat and neck had spread to his lungs despite months of chemotherapy and radiation.

Despite this, he wanted to focus on the many positives.

Accepting

"At 46, I have lived far longer than most of the humans in the 300,000-year history of our species. So have you, probably," he wrote. "And if the book of my life is shorter than many modern people's, it doesn't make it any less of a good read. Length and quality are not correlated in lives any more than they are in novels or films.

"So carpe that diem and keep it carped. And enjoy the tiny ways you can make other people a little happier. That's actually the secret of being happy oneself..."

This week it emerged Boas had moved into hospice care.