Time Out at 40

See all Time Out's 40th birthday London heroes

Who are your London heroes?
‘All those Londoners born elsewhere who come to make a new life in London: Shakespeare, because only in London would he have had a chance to develop his talent as a bright young playwright; and Churchill, although his constituency was a little further out (he was MP for Wanstead and Woodford). Then there are the Rolling Stones, my favourite song is ‘Street Fighting Man’, which typified the upheaval of the 1960s. It was also a time of making love and losing your virginity and groups such as the Stones, Love, and The Walker Brothers provided a backdrop to that. Which music did I lose my virginity to? Let’s just say Cat Stevens and Carmina Burana were pretty popular for creating a certain atmosphere.’

What’s the biggest thing that’s happened in your field in the last 40 years?
‘Labour wining control of the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1981. It was the first political administration in British history to take on the agenda of race, gender, disability and Ireland, all of which had been kept away from mainstream politics and are now taken for granted. I’m proudest to have been part of that. It’s all been a bit dull since then.’

What’s your personal favourite moment in London?
‘Nothing printable! But I’m thinking of the things we got up to in the 1970s, when you had constables going round on bikes, checking that people didn’t get up to things in hedges!’
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What’s the future for your field in London?
‘Boris will limp along for four years, he’ll be beset by minor scandals, as he has just begun to be. He’ll lose in four years and we’ll aim to get the mayor ship sailing again.’

What does Time Out mean to you?
‘At the GLC in those days we used to read Time Out because of its radical politics and agit-prop listings. It was the listings mag for the ’68 generation. Recently, I was thrilled to see the My Favourite Londoner column featured Greta Scaachi, who nominated me as her favourite Londoner. It was about three weeks after the mayoral election and it was the first nice thing anyone had said about me since May 1. Shortly afterwards we were on a radio programme together and flirted shamelessly on air! Funnily enough, she grew up on the same estate as I did; the Tolstoy Estate in south London.

Complete the sentence: London is…
‘… the whole world in one city.’

See all Time Out's 40th birthday London heroes