Meet 78-year-old Eddy - the oldest personal trainer in Milton Keynes

The man who helped Roger Moore get fit for a James Bond film is still working as a personal trainer today – at the grand age of 78.

Eddy Diget works at PureGym in Milton Keynes, where he trains more than 30 clients a week.

And he says he loves his job so much that he has no plans to retire any time soon.

He has worked as a surgeon in the Royal Navy and, with has over 55 years of experience in Chinese martial arts under his belt, has previously trained SWAT and counter terrorism teams..

He represented the UK at the 1962 Commonwealth Games, worked as a stuntman, and also spent 14 years training thousands of students at Oxford Brookes University.

But his biggest claim to fame is training Roger Moore in the James Bond film Moonraker while pursuing his own training under a Shaolin Master.

He says his age is an advantage in being a personal trainer.

“It puts me in a unique position,” he said. “My age allows me to be approachable in a way that other younger trainers might not be. For example, older women with female-specific problems can feel more comfortable talking to me knowing I have a medical background.

For the past three years, Eddy has lived with bowel cancer. But he doesn’t let that stand in the way of keeping fit.

"When I was diagnosed, the surgeon who performed my operation told me he’d never seen a 75-year-old that looked the way I did.

"I really credit that to being in good shape... The healthier you are ahead of a big 11-hour surgery like mine, the better your recuperative powers will be afterwards - I truly can’t advocate more for fitness in older people being so important.”

Eddy is urging other older people never to think they’re too old to get fit.

“Don’t listen to other people who say you’re too old - follow your desires. Fitness gives you so much more diversity in your own life.. Instead of sitting in a chair looking at your grandchildren, you can get your boots on and get out there with them," he said.

He maintains his healthy lifestyle by doing marital arts training and going for long walks around MK’s parks with his wife.

“I eat when I’m hungry, and we eat sensibly - bar the occasional pig out, of course. We love treating ourselves to fish and chips, or a takeaway”.

He added: “There’s nothing you can’t do. If you want to keep fit later in life, my best advice is to just get out there and do it. I have a client with cerebral palsy, he’s in a wheelchair but his progress this year has been phenomenal.”

When asked when he plan to retire, he says: “ I’m passionate about what I do and I’m not ready to stop that anytime soon. Forgetting the financial side entirely, it’s the emotional side of it that keeps me going. I love training people, it keeps me humble.”Stephen Rowe, Chief Marketing Officer at PureGym said: “We’re incredibly proud to have Eddy here with us training our members. He is living proof that age is simply just a number.”