An 83-year-old daredevil is set to plunge thousands of feet in a charity skydive.

Patrick Harris, of Abbeyfield House, Hampstead Garden Suburb, will leap out of a plane in Oxford tomorrow to raise cash for the North London Hospice.

As a retired steeplejack, he is not scared of heights and has been planning the challenge for more than a year.

Even so, the pensioner is not planning on telling his only son, Sean, an actor, about his charity feat until after it is over.

He said: “I am either crazy or a hero – you can make your own opinion – but I think I’m just someone who wants to help other people and live my life to the fullest.

“I can’t wait for the physical feeling of floating in the air before the parachute opens and you come back down to earth.

“I’m not nervous. I’ve had a medical check and I’m physically fit. There’s nothing wrong with my heart or lungs, so I know everything will be fine.”

Mr Harris decided to take on the skydive after hearing about the “fantastic work” the hospice, based in Finchley, does.

He has so far raised £100 in donations from his neighbours and staff members at Abbeyfield House.

Having spent more than half his life travelling to and from America, Scotland and Ireland, where he was born, he is accustomed to planes.

He added: “I was up in the sky all the time when I was in the marines, during the Korean War. It’s a great privilege for me to be able to help them in the hospice.

“All in all, to me it’s a worthwhile effort as you get a lot of pleasure out of it and the fact that you get to help people with that is an added bonus.”