Laughter really is the best medicine according to an author who survived cancer and has written about her experiences.

Kit Hammond Stapley, from Thames Ditton, has released "It could be verse", an anthology of laughter quotations.

Kit is described as a laughter facilitator and believes laughter can "provide the ammunition to blast the destructive power of stress and pressure of stressful situations out of their life."

Kit added: "If you can laugh at it - I don't care how serious it looks - you can survive it."

The book, produced in partnership with Rhonda Blunden, contains quotations from such luminaries as Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln and Plato.

Kit beat cancer in 1998 and now lives in a converted barge on the Thames where she delights in counting swans. She also teaches about Louise Hay, who wrote the million selling You Can Heal Your Life.

Such is her belief in the power of laughter, she has trained as a laughter leader, a laughter coach and is a member of the laughter network.

She believes that not only will the book provide relief from current stress but those who read it will be better equipped to deal with stress in the future.

The book costs £10 with £1.50 postage and packing and is available by calling Kit on 020 8398 4034 or email at kit.hammond@boltblue.co.uk.