Margaret Atwood's My London

Home is…

Toronto and an ancestral log cabin in Points North, Canada.

Where do you stay in London?

The Royal Over-Seas League on St James’s Street. It’s not The Athenaeum but it has one of London’s last crinoline staircases, which permitted women with petticoats to pass.

Earliest London memory?

If books count, the first couple of lines of AA Milne’s poem Buckingham Palace. By age 11 I was in love with Sherlock Holmes and I was quite disappointed not to find Hackney carriages when I eventually came here.

Last play you saw?

The most powerful production was King Lear staged at the old bus station at King’s Cross. Because the site was up for demolition, the walls actually fell in during the storm scene and the rain poured in from outside.

Most romantic thing someone’s done for you?

At my age it’s very nice to be called ‘love’.

Best place to let your hair down?

The garden restaurant at the Royal Over-Seas League. They do good cold plates and strawberries and cream.

First thing you do when you come to London?

Stagger across the road to Caffè Nero for a good strong coffee.

Favourite shops?

I always end up going to Boots and Accessorise on my first day to pick up all the things I’ve forgotten to pack. Pret A Manger sandwiches are such a wonderful addition since I first came to London in 1964, when all you could eat in that price range was eggs, chips and peas. Hatchards for books, and Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden for gifts.

Best meal?

I like The Wolseley because the loo is in the old bank vault.

Best thing a London cabbie has said?

‘I didn’t know where it was so I won’t charge you.’ I like that they pride themselves on knowing every destination.

Who do you call when you want to have fun?

Friends who go way back and some fellow authors I’d rather not name.

Best place for a nightcap?

Anywhere that’s open for a single malt, no water, no ice.

Building you’d like to be locked in overnight?

The London Library because there would be plenty to read.

Best place for a first date?

I would have no idea at this time of my life but the Tower of London might be romantic.

What would you do as Mayor for the day?

I would throw a party and recreate the Jubilee flotilla down the Thames with fireworks.

Building you’d like to buy?

Fortnum & Mason with everything still inside it.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I’m listening to Beethoven a lot in the car and my fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen. I like country and western because the songs have stories. I don’t listen to music when I write because it would be too distracting.

What’s your biggest extravagance?

Going to the opera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Some of the performances have stood out for their peculiarity. I went to see Faust and Mephistopheles was in drag, dressed up like Queen Victoria. The singing was great but the costume didn’t really work for me.

Animal you’d like to be?

A timber wolf, because they have an active social life and they sing to each other when they howl.

Best piece of advice?

‘Don’t eat there,’ which is good for any time.

At the moment you are…

On tour until December, using my spare time to write.

Who’s your hero?

Ulysses, because he was a great liar and if, as a fiction writer, you’re going to have a hero, you need someone who is a good storyteller.

What do you collect?

Books, by default — they’re coming out of the seams at home but they do make good insulation — and Inuit prints and sculptures.