Our secret hideaways: From Felicity Kendal to Benedict Cumberbatch, some of Britain's biggest names, invite you to a private view

From broadcaster Trevor McDonald and designer Paul Smith to writer PD James, some famous names reveal in a stunning new book of portraits, their favourite place...





BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

Actor, in The Library, The Garrick Club, London

On The Library in The Garrick Cub, London: 'It's an oasis of quiet: a stone's throw from Charing Cross Road and the theatre district on one side, and Covent Garden on the other,' said Benedict Cumberbatch

I was at school when I first visited the Garrick; my father took me to the library. In my memory it was enormous, very grand and impressive. Now it appears quite small, which it is. But it still retains an aura.

It’s an oasis of quiet: a stone’s throw from Charing Cross Road and the theatre district on one side, and Covent Garden on the other. You sit in silence, surrounded by volumes full of original playbills – Edmund Kean in Richard III or Othello.

As an actor accustomed to reading photocopied pages roughly bound together into scripts, it is an incredible luxury to read these beautiful editions, printed on heavy paper and in generous type.

There is a special thrill in handling a book that might have been held by actors and theatre managers. You are touching the past of the magic world of theatre.





'The Committee Room, at London's Oval is the place to watch cricket,' said Trevor McDonald (left). 'This theatre (Gielgud) has always been very lucky for me and I hold it dear,' said Felicity Kendal (right)

TREVOR McDONALD

Broadcaster, in the Committee Room, The Oval, London

I’ve followed England and the West Indies at almost every ground in Britain, India, Australia and South Africa. But the Committee Room, at London’s Oval is the place to watch cricket. Nowhere gives a better view of what’s going on in the middle. Growing up in Trinidad, cricket was an obsession. How the West Indies – one of the few reminders our tiny islands are a family of nation states – did at home and abroad, especially against England, was the focus of our lives.





FELICITY KENDAL

Actress, in the Gielgud Theatre, London

This theatre has always been very lucky for me and I hold it dear. It’s a beautiful, classical theatre and it’s where I had my first two West End hits. Moving into the dressing rooms before a run is like coming home. I acted opposite Simon Russell Beale there in 2002 and we had a jokey challenge to see who could get the most famous and/or infamous guests backstage after the show. He blasted into the lead with Madonna, but a few weeks later I notched up a couple of HRHs... and was back in the game.





GILBERT & GEORGE

Artists, in their London home

'The furniture in the room is minimal and mostly 19th century. We started to collect 19th-century furniture in the mid-70s because it was available and affordable,' said Gilbert & George

We see this as a sort of common room, free for people to come and read a book in. Although there are no books here, we’ve thousands in our house next door. We like to look out into the street to see the reflections in the car windows, roofs and bonnets down below. The reflections make it into a sort of Alice in Wonderland world. We like the smell of this room: it comes from the paint on the doors, which is mixed with linseed oil and lead, as it would have been originally in this Queen Anne house. The furniture in the room is minimal and mostly 19th century. We started to collect 19th-century furniture in the mid-70s because it was available and affordable. It seemed it was being discriminated against, just as we ourselves were at the time; anyone who mentioned the word ‘Victorian’ meant ‘Victorian rubbish’. We felt we were in the same boat so were inclined to defend it.





PD JAMES

Writer, Clavell Tower, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset

On Clavell Tower: 'I went there on my 92nd birthday; it was one of those perfect summer days we English believe can never be experienced anywhere else in the world,' said PD James

I first saw the 19th-century tower in the spring of 1971 on a blustery day with the tide running strongly, crashing over the black rocks. However greatly loved, it could only be a few years before the sea finally won. For the Landmark Trust to rebuild the tower, each brick had to be individually moved. The new tower is 85 feet from the cliff. I went there on my 92nd birthday; it was one of those perfect summer days we English believe can never be experienced anywhere else in the world.









'I decorated this room myself some 40 years ago,' said Alan Bennett (left). 'It's (studio) full of lovely things, all sources of inspiration,' said Paul Smith (right)

Alan Bennett's London house

ALAN BENNETT

Playwright, in his London house

I decorated this room myself some 40 years ago. The house was built in 1840, the date and the architect’s name are scratched on the right of the marble fireplace. I stripped off more than a century’s accumulated paint and paper to reveal the original lime plaster. I then painted it with water-based stains in orange, yellow and terra cotta before finally washing them down and sealing the surface that was left. I hope it looks like the wall of an Italian palazzo. With luck even if papered over, these stained walls will survive me.

PAUL SMITH

Designer, in his London studio

I’ve a room at home full of books, robots, postcards and toys, but I spend more time in my studio. It’s full of lovely things, all sources of inspiration. A favourite saying is, ‘You can find inspiration in anything. If you can’t, look again.’ I have design meetings around a big table in the middle of the room and often pull out a book and say: ‘I like the colours in this.’ It might be about an artist or full of old photos. I get things sent me from people as young as six up to 90. It’s not demanding, it’s about just wanting to communicate with me.





HARRIET WALTER

Actress, in her drawing room

'When I first moved in, bereaved and facing a single life, I invited people to 'bless' the house with a written message or a doodle,' said Harriet Walter

My cottagey home in London is a haven rather than for entertaining – though my few parties have been good, I’m not particularly hospitable. I don’t have a bursting fridge or a pot bubbling on the hob. Behind the wallpaper there is housewarming graffiti, by friends. When I first moved in, bereaved and facing a single life, I invited people to ‘bless’ the house with a written message or a doodle. The house was a new blank page from which to start my future.









‘An English Room’ by Derry Moore is published by Prestel Publishing Ltd, on September 27, at £29.99.