Joan Collins: My London

Actress Joan Collins braves the nocturnal dangers of St James's Park and dodged the wartime bombs at Marble Arch...

Home is
New York, London, Los Angeles and St Tropez.

Where do you stay in London?
A lovely flat in Belgravia.

What was the last play you saw in London?
Love Never Dies, the extravagant Andrew Lloyd Webber musical set on Coney Island.

What advice would you give a tourist?
Keep your nanbag firmly closed and close to your chest.

Which five London shops do you rely on?
Selfridges is the best for clothes and personal-shopping services; Allens butchers on Mount Street for the best meat and chicken; Joel & Son on Church Street for fabrics, since I design many of the clothes I wear; Ellis Helen on Walton Street for wonderful haircuts and manicures, and the most divine and unique gifts; and finally Philip Treacy for hats – especially come Ascot.

What's the best meal you've had in London?
The Wolseley's soufflé Suisse. It's to die for.

What's your earliest London memory?
Going down into the bomb shelters in the Underground at Marble Arch during the Blitz.

What would you do as Mayor for the day?
I'd change that ridiculous traffic light just before Trafalgar Square coming in from The Mall. It only lasts for 20 seconds.

What would be on your tombstone?
'She had her cake and ate it, too.'

What are your guilty pleasures?
Eating chocolate truffles in bed while watching TV and reading magazines.

What's your life philosophy?
Life's a predator: you have to eat it before it eats you.

What are you most afraid of?
Snakes.

What animal would you most like to be?
A Persian cat; they just always look so pampered.

What would you save from a fire?
So many things I suppose if I could only save two things it would be my address book and my lucky necklace, but otherwise Percy [Gibson, Joan's husband] and I would be tossing armloads out of the window as quickly as we could.

What was the last album you bought?
Rod Stewart's latest compilation of classics. They're so much fun.

What makes you laugh?
True wit, which is such a rarity nowadays – not
that lavatorial or vulgar humour that's so in vogue, but true acerbic and observational wit, like the film The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

What makes you cry?
Stories of cruelty to children; they make me weep with rage and impotence.

What are you up to at the moment?
I'm doing my one-woman show in New York. Please come and see it.

Which is your favourite London street for shopping?
Elizabeth Street in Belgravia.

Who's your hero?
My mother.

What do you most like wearing?
One thing? I love everything in my closet – I love wearing all my clothes.