On the buses as face of smoking campaign

They feature on Bournemouth and Poole Primary Care Trust's website and are being used in advertising on buses.

Brian Steene, a 46-year-old teacher from Wimborne, remembers trying his first cigarette at the age of 11. "I probably didn't smoke again until I went to university," he said.

"I had a friend who smoked, so I thought I would try again. I was then hooked. Both my mum and dad were heavy smokers, which didn't help."

Brian managed to stop for three years, but took it up again. "Temptation was put in my way. I was in this hotel on business, on my own, with a fine Islay malt whisky. All I needed was a big cigar. That was it - I went on to cigars. I smoked them for a good number of years, then I stopped again for a year and ended up starting again."

Brian was always embarrassed about his habit, and went out of his way to hide it from his students and colleagues.

"Being around non-smokers, I was quite envious. I always felt they had something I didn't, almost the moral high ground. I built up a feeling of guilt. I'm an intelligent person with a university degree. I always felt like the odd one out."

In April 2007, Brian lost his father to coronary heart disease. "One of the last things he said to me was you've got to get yourself checked out'. He never knew I smoked."

Brian's sister, who is a GP, told him about the help available on the NHS to quit and he went to see a stop smoking adviser. He stopped on September 3.

"For me it was a habit, not an addiction. I could go the whole day up until the evening without smoking, until I had a glass of wine. I craved the hit."

He used a nicotine inhalator to get him over the cravings and took up jogging. He now does cross-country running with his son. "I do feel better - I don't feel bad about myself. I won't go back. I just feel differently about it.

"I think it's quite funny to think that people who never knew I smoked are going to see me on the back of a bus and think: What's he doing there?'"