Spacey's London guide

He loves Soho - but doesn't recommend buying the drug ecstasy there. Amsterdam is the place for that, apparently.

The best way of getting around town, he reckons, is the Tube - or an electric scooter.

Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey has become such an aspirant Londoner he even relishes fry-ups.

The enigmatic superstar from New Jersey has been ensconced in the capital - working as artistic director at the Old Vic and living in a flat near Waterloo - on and off for a year now.

Long enough, it seems, for Spacey to count himself as something of an expert when it comes to the highs, not to mention lows, of London life.

Such an expert has Spacey become that he has written an article for the September issue of Condé Nast Traveler, designed to help his fellow Americans get the best from their holidays here.

As a tour guide Spacey's act is pretty convincing - as you would expect of a double-Oscar winner.

He clearly has been out and about, and he doesn't just advise visiting the usual suspects.

Of course The Old Vic gets a glowing mention - sportingly Spacey even admits it is a "shameless plug". So too does Ronnie Scott's, which has recently been bought by Spacey's friend Sally Greene.

Far more interestingly, however, Spacey advises his fellow-Americans to try gobbling up a full English breakfast at Shepherd Market and eating a steak in the peerless surroundings of Sketch.