Keith Richards is the all-time definitive rock star so perhaps it's not that surprising that in Life he produced the all-time definitive rock memoir - even if he'd never previously written anything longer than a song. (Although as Rob Brydon said to us earlier in the evening, "Imagine if he'd really let his hair down how exciting it would have been.") GQ.com had a brief audience with Keef on the red carpet, before he received Writer Of The Year from Johnny Depp and Sir Tom Stoppard:

GQ.com: Keith, welcome to the GQ Men Of The Year awards. Are you excited to be here?
Keith Richards: Yeah, man. I flew over especially.

Are you jetlagged?
[Sincerely] I don't even know any more... [laughs]

How does it feel to sell a million copies of your book?
Surprising. I wish I could sell that many records. [cackles]

You've produced your own riff on black tie this evening. When was the last time you wore a tie?
I don't know. Probably the last time I was in court.

If you had to choose a Man Of The Year, who would it be and why?
[Thinks about it briefly] Mick. Better say Mick. [grins]

Keith Richards says life on the road is “a lot of hard slog”.

The Rolling Stones rocker released his autobiography, Life, last year. He detailed the ups and downs of his career and personal life in the book, including his illicit drug use and the death of his son Tara in 1976.

Keith is very honest in the account and insists he never glamorised anything, including life on the road.

“It actually wasn’t a very glamorous life, it was a lot of hard slog, a lot of hard work,” he told GQ magazine. “We were taking care of two hours on the stage and the rest of it; I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

Keith found it difficult to talk about losing his son from cot death. The 67-year-old music legend hated having to relive the tragedy while writing.

“I really didn’t want to go through and remember the death of my son. You spend a lot of time trying to bury that kind of sh*t, not bringing it up again. That was the hard one for me, to relieve that. You don’t forget sh*t like that,” he explained.

Keith is famed for his award-winning lyrics. The musician hopes to write again for the Rolling Stones but isn’t sure of the details as yet.

“Yeah, there is talk about that [doing more writing] but basically I want to get the Stones back together and give it one more bash,” he said. “I think they’ve got it in them. But it’s about timing and an awful lot of very careful diplomacy.”

Keith has likened his drug use to changing gears in the past. The star has revealed what gear he feels in nowadays.

“I’m pretty much in neutral,” he said.

With Jack Sparrow unavailable, Keith Richards could be free to give the John Peel
Lecture at this year's Radio Festival. Photograph: Dave M Benett/Getty

Plenty to look forward to at this year's Radio Festival, but one thing in particular stands out – a brand new innovation called the John Peel Lecture, which looks likely to open proceedings with a bang. Exactly who will be delivering it remains a closely guarded secret, but John Myers, chief executive of the Radio Academy, the festival's organiser, offers up a giant clue or two on his blog. "As I was growing up, there was one person, one group, one sound that got me through the years. That person, in my view, is one of the world's greatest rock'n'roll artists and he will be giving the John Peel Lecture on the Monday evening revealing his personal view of life and music in honour of the late John Peel." Flipping 'eck, it's Keith Richards … maybe. The festival will run from 31 October to 2 November in its new home of Salford, with a line-up that includes Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, Global Radio head-honcho, Ashley Tabor, and 6 Music DJ Jarvis Cocker. Tune in for more details here …