Two years ago Felix Dennis was diagnosed with throat cancer. This life-changing piece of news – probably the result of a 49 year 50-a-day habit – was followed by a major operation to remove a tumour on his pharynx and months of strength-sapping radio therapy.

But now he is in remission, and what better way to celebrate than a 30-day tour presenting his latest poems (and the odd glass of wine) to audiences around the country?

The tour took up most of the summer and autumn and, with typical gallows humour, was called “The Cut Throat Tour.”

Felix Dennis’s unwelcome brush with mortality hasn’t dimmed his enthusiasm for writing poetry. Nor has it stopped him attending to his business interests in the UK and the US, where his publishing empire continues to flourish.

In preparation for the day when he finally succumbs, he has already written his own epitaph – “Felix Dennis, Poet, Publisher, Planter of Trees” – and he’s chosen the place he wants to be buried, beneath one of his beloved trees on his 6,000 acre estate in Feldon country near the River Avon in south-east Warwickshire.

The 66-year-old publishing millionaire has had a love affair with trees for a long time. He is restoring the woodland the country has lost by creating the Heart of England Forest, working with the Tree Council in the Vale of Evesham.

He is expanding the forest at a rate of 300 acres a year and the forest will include a 30-ton rock inscribed with his poem Mirabile Dictu. He has left 80 per cent of his fortune to grow and protect the forest.

In September he planted the forest’s one millionth tree, with author and friend Hugh Johnson OBE.

Meanwhile his award-winning publishing empire continues to expand and his news magazine, The Week, is growing worldwide. An iPad edition of The Week is now available, and Felix Dennis is committed to staying ahead of the curve on media delivery platforms.

Last year marked a return to his publishing roots when his company bought Computer Active magazine from Incisive Media.

The magazine is a fortnightly mass-market consumer publication aimed at home computer users, and has a circulation of almost 120,000. It has joined Dennis Publishing’s tech division with titles which include Computer Shopper, Web User and PC Pro.

Dennis Publishing is one of the world’s leading independently-owned media companies and is worth more than £150 million, while the British division of The Week is worth about the same.

The UK operation made a £3.6 million profit in its last published figures. Turnover of the entire Dennis Group is around £95 million a year.

Felix Dennis first came to public attention in 1971 as one of three defendants in the Oz obscenity trials. He was famously cleared on appeal.

He lives on his estate in Warwickshire or his home in Mustique – which he bought from David Bowie - one of six homes he owns around the world.

He hosts charity events at his Warwickshire home and also owns property in Mustique, New York, London and Connecticut.