Peter Capaldi's My London

10 April 2012

The actor loves Soho, shops in Paul Smith and does not want to die in Muswell Hill

Home is
Crouch End. Or Crouch Angeles as it's known since the arrival of various British film stars. When I first arrived the only famous face you saw was Ray Davies of The Kinks, which was thrilling enough.

What was the last show you saw?
Ben Hur Live. I love the classics.

What advice would you give a tourist coming to London?
In Peter Ackroyd's book London: The Biography he describes the route of the medieval wall that enclosed the original city. Take the book and follow it from the Tower of London via the Barbican to Ludgate Hill. You experience the real history of London.

What's the first thing you do when you arrive back in London?
Put on the telly.

Which shops do you rely on?
Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood for my wife. As an old art-school type, I love Cass Art on Berwick Street and Cowling & Wilcox on Broadwick Street for the smell and optimism of art materials.

What's the best meal you've had in London?
A birthday dinner at the Del Parc tapas near Archway. Gorgeous food with minimal palaver.

What's the most romantic thing someone has done for you in London?
A girl once came to my beery flat in Kensal Green, opened the blinds and cooked me breakfast. I married her.

What's your earliest London memory?
Arriving from Glasgow at Euston and watching out for the predators my worldly relatives had warned me about.

Do you have a recurring dream?
No, but I am having increasingly strange dreams. Recently I dreamed that I returned home to
find my wife had married Ray Winstone. They were kind and let me stay, but the whole thing was awkward.

How would you like the opening line of your obituary to read?
'He said, "Don't let me die in Muswell Hill." And he didn't.'

What's your biggest extravagance?
I'm not an extravagant man. The fact that I can have a coffee out whenever I want still makes me feel grateful.

What animal would you like to be?
The indulged cockatoo of an elderly lady, like the one owned by Mrs Wilberforce in The Ladykillers.

Who's your hero?
Real heroes are all around us and uncelebrated. If you mean artistic heroes: the film-maker Terence Davies, a bona fide great British artist Count Arthur Strong, Vermeer, David Bowie and John Byrne.

What would you do as Mayor of London for the day?
Remove all vehicles, parked or otherwise. Can you imagine all the space?

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
Shut up and get on with it.

What are you up to at the moment?
Playing the criminal mastermind Professor Marcus, in Graham Linehan's version of The Ladykillers.

If you could live in any London building, which would it be?
BBC Television Centre.

What was the last music you downloaded?
Lana Del Ray's 'Video Games', of course - like everybody else - which is lovely. But not an album. The soundtrack to Shutter Island because of 'This Bitter Earth', which is a mix between Max Richter and Dinah Washington created by Robbie Robertson. And Happiness by Hurts.

Which is your favourite shopping area?
Soho. I don't really ever want to leave.

What do you most like wearing?
Dr Martens shoes.

Which is your favourite London pub?
I don't go to pubs. But if I did, I would go to The French House on Dean Street, and also have my mail delivered there.

What is your favourite London discovery?
It's gone now, but I used to love Baron's, the gentlemen's outfitters on Piccadilly. It was dreadful. They had a 'Closing down sale - everything must go' sign in the window for about ten years. And finally it did. I bought unwearable suits and had to pay by taking my docket to the lady they kept locked in the cashier's booth.

Tell me something I don't know about London
'Telstar' was recorded above what is now Holloway Cycles on Holloway Road, where producer Joe Meek had his flat and studio.

Where did you last go on holiday?
Rome, Andalucía, and a romantic weekend in a lovely hotel in Reading.

What's the best Christmas party you've been to?
I don't like parties. There was never a party I was at where I didn't wish I was somewhere else.

What is your party trick?
Vanishing.

The Ladykillers is at the Gielgud Theatre until 14 April (theladykillers.co.uk)

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