Former BBC presenter Roger Finn describes his heart attack

Roger Finn's heart attack started when he was on a hike in the New Forest

Former BBC South presenter Roger Finn has described how he survived a heart attack months after he retired.

Mr Finn, also a former host of Newsround, fell ill while hiking in the New Forest shortly after leaving the BBC in 2020.

Though he felt "rotten", he said the experience was "nothing like" what he thought a heart attack would have been.

"There was no sudden pain, no clutching at the heart, no keeling over, nothing dramatic at all," Mr Finn said.

He said he initially felt a "a horrible feeling, like indigestion" as the heart attack started and every step he took became laboured.

"I finished the walk and drove home but that rotten feeling did not go away and I began to feel a slight tension across my chest," he said.

Symptoms of a heart attack can include:

• Chest pain - a sensation of pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across the chest

• Pain in other parts of the body - it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm is affected, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and abdomen

• Feeling lightheaded or dizzy

• Sweating

• Shortness of breath

• Feeling sick or being sick

• An overwhelming sense of anxiety (similar to having a panic attack)

• Coughing or wheezing

• Although the chest pain is often severe, some people may only experience minor pain, similar to indigestion. While the most common symptom of a heart attack in both men and women is chest pain, women are more likely to experience other symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain

Source: NHS

He arrived home and was "ordered" by his wife to call 111. Paramedics arrived "very quickly", told him he was having a heart attack and took him to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

He had two stents inserted to unblock his arteries and was discharged a couple of days later.

There are about 80,000 hospital heart attack admissions in England annually, according to the NHS.

The overall survival rate for people who have a heart attack is seven in 10, and this increases to nine out of 10 for those who come forward for early hospital treatment.

A 10-hour exercise bike marathon was held on Friday by the Bournemouth Heart Club, which Mr Finn has attended since his heart attack.

It was held to raise funds to pay for people who might not be able to afford the £5 fee for each session because of the cost of living crisis.

Graeme Souness said he is still able to do whatever he wants to do despite his open heart surgery 30 years ago

One of the fundraisers was former football manager and TV pundit Graeme Souness, who had open heart surgery 30 years ago.

"It's not changed my life, having an operation. I'm still doing everything I wanted to do, I used to do," Mr Souness said.

"The message is even if you're fit, you get to a certain age and if there's a family history, you should get yourself checked out."