My favourite London song: Have your say

Stephen Fry, Norman Cook, Hilary Mantel and others pick their favourite London songs. Have they got

Stephen Fry, actor: “London Pride” by Noël Coward
The melody contains a clever variation on the Westminster chimes. The lyrics, cheesy to some now, perhaps, aptly expressed the spirit of wartime defiance, “from the Ritz to the Anchor and Crown”.

Hilary Mantel, novelist: “Oranges and Lemons” (nursery rhyme)
Because so many of my own stories end in decapitation.

Arthur Smith, comedian: “London Calling” by the Clash
It is exciting, sexy and grubby, like London, and it makes clear that the rest of the world should listen.

Alison Balsom, trumpet soloist: “The Fear” by Lily Allen
It’s everything a hit should be – catchy, current. And it has precisely the right amount of sarkyness.

Ruth Padel, poet: “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” by Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin and Jack Strachey
I love the sense of the country, whether foxes or nightingales, as a secret presence in the city.

Norman Cook, DJ: Django Reinhardt’s version of “The Lambeth Walk”
I recently had a conversation about how a Belgian gypsy of Hungarian origin, living in Paris in the 1930s, would have heard of a cockney knees-up. It just goes to show the power of a good tune.

Sarah Waters, novelist: “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” by George and Ira Gershwin
It’s a simple song with a cornily American vision of London; but it is also about how cities are transformed and made radiant by the relationships we have in them.

Chris Difford, songwriter: “The London Boys” by David Bowie
It has a lyric that reflects my youth. When I was 17 I went to live in Soho with a friend. London was a black and white place until I lived in Soho.

Gautam Malkani, novelist: “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant
I was seven years old and remember being excited by the music – it sounded so futuristic. Then there’s the EastEnders theme tune: I can’t look at London on a map without hearing it.

Nick Ferrari, radio presenter: “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers
It reminds me of the day that Ken Livingstone lost the London mayoral elections.