Until he lost all his money my father was a successful north London Jewish businessman. He was unusual among his immediate family in that he was enormously cultured and had an incredible library.

The London Games will be designed for the athletes and we will provide them with the very best venues and the very best conditions to pursue their sporting dreams in London.

Being an only child I didn't have any other family but my mom and dad really since the rest of my family lived quite far away from London.

I knew I really made it when my dad saw me in London and after the performance he had no notes to me and just said 'You are doing your own thing and I am proud of you.'

I want any excuse to come home. My dad is not a spring chicken any more. If anyone says 'Go buy a postage stamp in London ' I'll go and do it.

When I moved out of London 13 years ago I found a whole other reason not to drive. This was because my new husband Dan unlike my dad did drive and this became a great source of fun and adventure.

Big Star invented a vision of bohemian rock & roll cool that had nothing to do with New York Los Angeles or London which made them completely out of style in the 1970s but also made them an inspiration to generations of weird Southern kids.

I've noticed that once you leave London you do kind of become a bit more famous. People in London are a bit too cool for school. It's not so unusual to see someone from London in the street. But outside of London people are a bit more excited to see you and come out and support you.

I moved to New York last year and I love it. It's a huge change and I've always wanted to spend time there. It's like a more intense London and everything's up a few notches. The lights are brighter the pace is faster and the food's better.

I don't drive around London much. Any journey around Islington involves hundreds of speed bumps that seem to tear the bottom of your car off.

To think that the new economy is over is like somebody in London in 1830 saying the entire industrial revolution is over because some textile manufacturers in Manchester went broke.

I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth and of London as a big freckle.

If you take the contempt some Americans have for yuppies and multiply it by 10 you might come close to understanding their attitude towards the City as they call it - London the people of the south.

When I'm in London Claridge's is a great favourite. I'm a big fan of art deco architecture and the rooms are extraordinary.

The London games mark the 24th anniversary of my winning two golds and setting the world record in the heptathlon. Someone is going to want it records are made to be broken - it's only a matter of time. I hope mine will outlive me.

I am also hugely excited to then be competing to defend my three Paralympic titles at the Paralympic Games. I believe we will see some amazing times posted and I am very much looking forward to what will be an incredible Olympics and Paralympics in London.

As a kid who wasn't into sports at school I felt almost alienated at times whereas in the theatre community there was this amazing sense of camaraderie. Early on we would go to rehearsals with my dad and I was like the mascot for the backstage crew. That was a big part of my childhood so I dreamed of one day doing a play in London.