Home is…
Greenwich, with my wife Theresa, right by the most poetic park in London. We’ve lived there for nearly half a century. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Which shops do you rely on?
I’m ashamed to admit that I hardly use shops at all now — it’s scandalous, but it’s just too convenient to use the Internet. Shopkeepers are wonderful people who do a difficult job that we ought to encourage. Which is why I’m ashamed.
Last play you saw?
If operas count as plays — and they do in my book — then it was the English National Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess. A great piece of music, wonderfully sung by an almost all black cast.
Where would you like to be buried?
In my back garden if it’s legal, though I suspect it isn’t — I ought to know, but I don’t. It’s probably very off-putting for the estate agent selling it after my death.
What is your London secret?
The Beefsteak Club near Leicester Square. The street door looks like the entrance to a brothel, but inside it’s a time capsule of Edwardian England. But you have to be a member.
Where would you recommend for a first date?
You’d have to ask my daughter that. My suggestions would be 50 years out of date.
Favourite pub?
I don’t go to pubs in London. I go to pubs out of London; does that count for your purposes? The Crown at Groombridge in Kent is our base for weekend walks, and is a terrific place to have lunch. It undoes all the good effects of the exercise.
What makes someone a Londoner?
I think you have to be born there. Or else abroad.
What would you do if you were Mayor for the day?
I would encourage high-rise building around Canary Wharf, and ban it everywhere else. Clusters of high-rise buildings look great if they’re of the same style. Whereas isolated ones look perfectly horrible. I don’t want to see high-rise buildings in Chelsea, Greenwich, Hampstead or places like that.
Most iconic Londoner?
Samuel Johnson. A real Londoner: he lived on the eastern side of Temple borough, and not many iconic Londoners have done that. One might refer to Dickens, if he wasn’t such an insufferable man.
Have you ever had a run-in with a policeman?
When I was 16, I was stopped coming out of my parents’ house and told I didn’t look like the sort of person who lived in a house like that. I think I was probably unshaven and wearing an open-necked shirt. It was a brief and unpleasant encounter. They searched my bag, found nothing, and let me go on my way. I got over it.
What’s your biggest extravagance?
Well, recently, a short visit to Thailand, which was part of my wife’s attempt to alter my shape. It hasn’t been very successful. But it was certainly very expensive.
What are you up to at the moment?
I’m writing my Reith Lectures for the summer. At the moment, I have to re-write them every week with the changes in the political situation.
What’s the best thing a cabbie has ever said to you?
We’ve arrived… wake up!
The Reith Lectures start on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on 21 May
