My London: Stephen Fry

Where do you live and why? In West Hampstead because I fell in love with this extraordinary house. It's an ordinary terraced house, but an architect scooped out the inside and created all these different levels. There are two trees growing through the middle.

Are you a member of any club? A ridiculous number and, hopefully, I'm about to join another - the Garrick - because I'm getting to the age where I don't mind wearing a tie as much as I used to.

What was the last book you bought? In Peru, where I've been filming a documentary, I bought Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal [Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone] as a way of improving my Spanish.

Where would you most like to spend a 'lost weekend' in London? I know the City less well than any other area, and the weekend is a good time to explore it because there are no suits and couriers snarling it up.

What is your earliest memory of London? Sitting on top of a double-decker bus with my mother and wondering why we weren't mowing down pedestrians on the pavement. That strange parallax thing from the top of a bus makes it look like you're half on the pavement.

When did you last lose something valuable and what was it? If I were smart, I would say my reputation; in truth, I'm always losing clothes. It sounds mad but if you do things like awards ceremonies, you tend to take one of those suit hanger bags, change into a dinner jacket and then go home and forget all about it.

What is the most beautiful London landmark? Big Ben. It's a fairy tale and it's what I look for when I've been away. The best bottom in London, in case you're interested, is on a naked statue of Achilles, at Wellington Place on Hyde Park Corner.

And the ugliest? The National Theatre. I'm afraid I can't love it.

What's the last play you saw in London and did you enjoy it? The Royal Family at the Theatre Royal, which was a very jolly piece of nonsense.

When and where did you last get drunk? On Tuesday 4 February, with my production crew and the Lima British Chamber of Commerce.

Where is the most intimidating place in London? Camden Market ? because I'm so fantastically uncool.

What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done? Once, many years ago, I was drunk in the Groucho Club. A vomity moment came over me, and I vomited out of the window into Dean Street. Fortunately, it didn't hit anybody.

Admit to one thing you've done in London that you've never told anyone before. Once, taking a short cut from Piccadilly Circus to Shaftesbury Avenue, I stopped off in the Trocadero and played a video game for an hour. It was a skiing game where you wear fake skis and I got rather addicted. There was a particular score I had to get past and, once I started, I couldn't stop. And, rather embarrassingly, people did recognise me.

Where did you last blow £2,000 and what was it on? I buy a computer virtually every month and I'm about to buy another one tomorrow. It's the new iMac with a floating screen and it's thoroughly sexy. I actually bought the third-ever Mac sold in Britain in 1984.

What was the last conversation you had with a London cabbie? Most of them know I owna London cab - I did an article once for a cabbie magazine - so they always say, 'You're not driving your own cab today, then!' I've found there's a real camaraderie - a cab-araderie - among cab drivers.

If you were invisible for a day, where would you go in London and what would you do? Certain men I know would go to the Sanctuary, the female-only health club. I'm afraid I would do rather obvious things like wandering around 10 Downing Street, listening in on policy meetings and finding out how much is planned and how much is accidental.

Have you ever been refused entry anywhere? Yes, the Ritz Casino with Peter Cook some years ago. Peter was wearing big trainers, and we were both denied entry because of them. So he went round to the Ritz itself and managed to get a pair of shoes off a concierge. Cook was the funniest man who ever drew breath.

Give us your best tip for overcoming depression. To regard it as being like the weather. It's not your responsibility that it's raining, but it is real when it rains, and the fact that it's raining does not mean that the rain is never going to stop. The only thing to do is to believe that, one day, it won't be raining and accept it so you can find a mental umbrella to shield yourself from the worst. The sun will eventually come up.

Where in London would you have your ashes scattered? Lord's cricket ground is the holiest place in London. Of course, I would have to be scattered during the Ashes series.

If your house were on fire, which three things would you rescue? My computer, my other computer, and my other computer.

Stephen Fry: In Search of the Spectacled Bear is on BBC1 at Easter

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