Suzannah Lipscomb's My London

Home is…

Barnes, and I work in Bloomsbury, so my days are full of beauty.

Who are your heroes?

Lucy Winkett, an Anglican priest who’s brilliant on feminist issues; Natalie Zemon Davis, an historian I aspire to imitate; and Joanna Lumley (below), who’s just about the most charming person I’ve ever met.

Last play you saw?

Noël Coward’s Private Lives with Toby Stephens and Anna Chancellor. Spectacular.

First thing you do when you arrive back in London?

Walk over Hammersmith Bridge and watch the sunlight play on the water. The Thames is London and I love to consider the lives and centuries that the river has flowed past.

Building you’d like to buy?

Somerset House for its Tudor history and its beautiful neoclassical architecture, or St Pancras, whose extraordinary Gothic grandeur I find beguiling.

Favourite discoveries?

The Philip Mould gallery in Dover Street for wonderful paintings, including many Tudor ones that I covet. The world’s best cocktail: Amber Embers at The Gilbert Scott. The Olympic Studios cinema in Barnes. And my hairdresser, Tilley & Carmichael, in Soho.

Best meal?

Dinner at The Wolseley. To start, I had a croustade of quail’s eggs and hollandaise sauce, then a main of endive, Roquefort and walnut salad, and a bottle of a glorious Bordeaux Supérieur (Château La Grave Singalier 2011).

Favourite pub?

The Defector’s Weld in Shepherd’s Bush for late-night drinking, or The Hampshire Hog in Hammersmith for a delightful gastropub with a great garden.

What would you do as Mayor?

I’d significantly increase the funding for refuges for victims of domestic violence, trafficking and domestic servitude.

Biggest extravagance?

I suspect it’s the winter coat that I’ve recently bought by Canada Goose (right). It’s goose down, so it’s a bit like wearing a duvet, and it can withstand all the endless standing around that filming involves.

Earliest memory?

Visiting the Tower of London, Cutty Sark and Madame Tussauds, where I remember seeing the big man himself, Henry VIII.

Best thing a cabbie has said to you?

One cabbie sang to me recently. He serenaded me all the way down Oxford Street.

Favourite shops?

Gail’s on Bayley Street. I’m at the café practically every day for coffee and a pastry or salad. LK Bennett: it makes the most comfortable, glamorous high heels on the market. Hatchards in Piccadilly for books: it’s a treasure trove.