We challenge our contributors to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don’t take “Sorry Gov” for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London’s skyline to find out what Londoners think about their city. The questions are the same but the answers vary wildly.

Maxine Morse is a born and bred Londoner. Her childhood was spent, clutching a 50p Red Rover pass and exploring every nook and cranny of this great city from the top of a double decker bus. After a fast-paced career in television and e-learning, she is back to doing what she enjoys best, observing, strolling and flaneuring her way round London. She sniffs out new restaurants and watches mixologists juggle and pour from height. Most evenings she is at a West End show or reviewing an opera. She blogs about London life at www.londonology.co.uk.

What’s your secret London tip?

London is the capital of FREE. Before you go anywhere, or do anything, Google how to do it for cheap or (better still) for free. There’s free food, free museums, free walks, free movies, free art…but know when to tip (generously) and when to splurge. You won’t want to miss an amazing afternoon tea at a luxury hotel or an evening in your finest gear at the Royal Opera House.

What’s your secret London place?

My vote goes to the Phoenix Arts Club in the bowels of the Phoenix Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Famed for being the dressing rooms for John Gielgud, it is now home to an eclectic mix of entertainment. Here, I met the dazzling jazz piano player Dom Pipkin who makes the Junco Partner Blues sound like five instruments, while playing with one hand and holding a beer in the other.

What’s your biggest gripe about London?

This sounds a bit bad tempered but its tourists pointing in the street and nearly removing someone’s eye, rummaging for their Oyster card after they’ve arrived at the ticket barrier, stopping suddenly when they are walking along the pavement causing a pile-up or giving me heart failure by stepping over the yellow line on the tube platform train.

What’s your favourite building?

Definitely, it is Chiswick House, the 18th Century party house of Lord Burlington. This is a diminutive, perfectly proportioned Neo Palladian Mansion designed by the eccentric, turbaned William Kent and contains the purchases from Lord Burlington’s Grand Tour. You can just imagine costumed guests with powdered wigs arriving by river for his evening soirees. The lead sphinx in the Lower Tribuna epitomise its mystery and decadence.

What’s your most hated building?

This is a bit of a toss-up between the Barbican and the Post Office Tower. The Barbican with its ugly Brutalist architecture seems to have been plonked at a ridiculously long distance from the nearest tube which means too much walking for those of a certain age or in challenging footwear! While the Barbican has nil points for architecture, its performances, gardens and bars are superlative. The Post Office Tower used to have a buzz about it in the Swinging Sixties with its revolving restaurant and avant-garde architecture. Now, whenever I see it, I’m surprised that a savvy urban planner hasn’t earmarked it for redevelopment.

What’s the best view in London?

The 6th floor café of the Tate Modern, where for a price of a cup of coffee, you can sit on a bar stool and watch the boats on the Thames and the majesty of St Paul’s. And in a similar vein, the view from the Millennium Bridge towards the Shard, the Globe and the Tate Modern is not bad either.

What’s your personal London landmark?

My dad had a Victorian pharmacy at 39 Grosvenor Gardens in Victoria. We spent our childhood there “helping him serve the customers”, rummaging in those small wooden medicine drawers and trying out all the lipstick and perfume testers. He was just round the corner from Buckingham Palace and we often had VIP customers. He was always saying to some suited gent, “Lord X, your prescription will be ready on Wednesday”. We’d look after the shop while he dropped off toiletries, or medicines, for the Queen, Prince Charles or Princess Diana. Sadly, his pharmacy is now a café but the mahogany interior is still intact. As one of only two listed shop interiors in Westminster, it was blessed with a special preservation order.

What’s London’s best film, book or documentary?

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (TV series based on the novel) made me howl with laughter…it took me back to my childhood growing up in a North West London suburb sandwiched in between Wembley and Harrow with its multi-cultural diversity, 70s fashions, great music and London accents.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

I’m a big fan of Corbin and King restaurants…I love the Delaunay in Aldwych with its Modern European vibe, the grand, monochromatic Wolseley on Piccadilly and the Brasserie Zedel with its good value French bistro set menus. In fact, I love the Brasserie Zedel so much that I cried on my first visit back there after the Covid lockdown.

How would you spend your ideal day off in London?

Let’s imagine this ideal day (no matter how unrealistic) is in the heat of summer and the sky is blue and cloudless. I would take a Thames Clipper boat from Westminster Bridge and sit at the back, enjoying a gin and tonic with the breeze in my hair. I’d get off at the Tower of London. Even after many visits, I still get a thrill from seeing the armour of Henry VIII and I am overwhelmed with patriotic fervour when I see the Crown Jewels. My love is seriously large gem stones! And if it’s raining, I can be found with my nose pressed to the glass cabinets of the V&A jewellery room.