I was absolutely staggered to learn recently that on average, someone is diagnosed with cancer at least every 90 seconds in the UK.

At any one time around 3 million people in our country – that’s 4 per cent of the whole population – will be living with the disease.

While the epicentre of the shock of a cancer diagnosis is on the person whose body cells have started to divide and mutate, it is undeniable that the tremors and aftershocks spread quickly to those closest to the person now living with cancer.

I am among those who have felt this aftershock, having lived with cancer as part of my close family for almost all of my adult life.

In fact, because of this, I have inherited a genetic pre-disposition to cancer, which means I need to be more alert than some.

But we all need to be alert and aware.

The other statistic around cancer diagnosis that registered with me was around how a gender divide has emerged at a number of levels in relation to cancer. In 2020, general incidence of cancer was 21pc higher in men than in women; in people aged over 65, cancer diagnosis is 50pc higher in men than women.

In short, as men, in the early part of our adult lives we need to be checking ourselves regularly, with testicular cancer being the most prevalent cancer among men.

When we get over 45 (something I’m approaching myself) we need to get checked if something feels different when having a wee, as we are entering the territory where prostate cancer is a real risk.

We also need to talk about this among ourselves more.

It was a huge departure for the Royal Household to have recently shared information about the King’s health, firstly in relation to his treatment for a prostate issue and then secondly his cancer diagnosis.

This is hugely responsible leadership on the King’s part and has without any doubt got people thinking and talking, with cancer support websites reporting huge increases in traffic after these announcements.

I experienced this first hand when I was in a taxi (I love chatting to taxi drivers) and a news story came onto the radio about the King’s health.

The driver asked me ‘How would I know then, if I had a problem?’

Our chat turned to the difference between ‘stage fright’ and actually not being able to go at the urinal. We agreed that he probably would go get checked out (and I assured him it’s not as horrific a process as he’d imagined!).

There is no way that this conversation (which the taxi driver felt comfortable having with a stranger) would have happened if it hadn’t been for the King’s sharing of his own diagnosis.

I will probably never know if the taxi driver went and got checked, but he might now have a few more of those conversations and perhaps, having rehearsed it on a stranger, with people closer to him.

This week I also encountered another incredible cancer story as I interviewed writer, comedian and activist Janey Godley for Norwich Theatre Talks, the podcast that I host.

On the podcast we are determined to live Norwich Theatre’s values of bravery, honesty and impactfulness, and so we invite guests who have lived-experiences and stories that need to be shared.

Janey was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021 and despite chemotherapy, just over a year later she learned that she had cancer in her abdomen and now talks openly on stage about the fact that she will eventually die of cancer.

She was performing her comedy show Not Dead Yet at the Playhouse, to a sell-out audience later that evening.

It is a hard-hitting conversation and you can listen to the episode now on Spotify, YouTube and Norwich Theatre Digital Stage (via our website), but Janey’s story is an incredible one and she personifies the need for openness and honesty about this disease and a determination not to let it silence us.

As I conclude, I am very conscious that in the time it has taken me to write this column, around 40 people will have received a cancer diagnosis and had their lives knocked sideways at the news.

In the same time, countless others will be processing the news that someone they love is unwell, about to undertake gruelling treatment, or might even be about to die.

I commend all those research and support organisations working tirelessly for cures, advances in treatments and to provide care and compassion for those living with or around this hideous disease.

The work of these charities, like the Big C here in Norfolk and Maggie’s – a charity I was pleased to support as a board member when I was in Manchester – is humbling and I hope they will support my message that  we need to talk about cancer.

Stephen Crocker is CEO of Norwich Theatre