Life by Keith Richards (not as we know it!)

Keith Richards has a new autobiography out, and doctors are marvelling at how he has survived the excesses of drug abuse for so long!

Now 66, Richards only gave up cocaine four years ago, after he fell out of a tree and split his head open. Before that he gave up heroin in 1978.

Richards (who changed his name from Richard because everyone kept pluralising his surname) must have,

according to addiction expert Dr Robert Lefever, "the constitution of an ox" to have survived for so long.

The book is called Life (given the discussion, maybe Richards foresaw the irony), and it was released on Monday.

Dr Lefever warns that the lifestyle should not be copied. "It's not something you can take for granted. For every Keith Richards, there are many, many more who die," he said.

Writer and music journalist David Quantick noted the deaths of fellow musicians of Richards - such as Gram Parsons and fellow Stone Brian Jones - and said: "It's almost as though others die so that Keith Richards may live."

"Still, it's not as though any children are going to think he's a good example. Just look at him: He's got a face like a prune's wallet."