The key to a successful marriage? LAUGHTER!

For Julie Cook, it's not good looks or good sex that keeps the spark alive in her relationship

Looks fade, but personality doesn't. We've all heard that saying, and now, as I'm hurtling through my 40s, never have I heard a truer word. Like most young people, when I was in my 20s, everything was about appearances. Feeling my best meant looking my best, and when it came to dating, if the physical attraction wasn't there then that was the end of that. But as the years have passed, I've learnt that attraction comes in many forms, it's not just based on physical appearance. In fact, these days, there are far more important things that keep a spark in your relationship.

The other day I was in my bedroom preparing for bed when the door swung open and a creature in an electric-blue wig, on his knees, crashed into the room and fell flat on his face. I let out an involuntary scream. At first, I thought a rabid killer clown had broken into my house. Then I saw my husband beneath the blue wig, giggling like a lunatic on the floor.

He'd wanted to come up the stairs in it – it's one of my daughter's dress-up wigs – on his knees and pretend to be her. Instead, he'd tripped on the final stair and had come careering in through the door, ending up in a heap on the carpet. I laughed so hard I thought I'd cracked a rib. But you see: this happens most days with my 44-year-old husband, Cornel. He makes me laugh at least once a day. I don't mean a polite smile or a giggle. I mean properly laugh until my tummy aches and my jaw hurts.