A view from abroad: Guy Pearce, actor

The first thing I notice about London is the number of people in comparison with Melbourne. It is really jam-packed. And I really adore the architecture - these awesome buildings which are 20 times older than the ones at home. Wow, it's like being in a museum.

Every time I come here I stay somewhere different

Bow, Highgate, Charing Cross and now Piccadilly. I like getting to know the city rather than seeing the

superficial side of it.

London is the hardest city in the world to find your way around. I don't think there's a single street that is parallel to another. All those windy streets round Soho and Covent Garden are cute, but it is very easy to get lost.

The fashions here are different. There is a real chunky Dr Martens-type thing which filtered through to

Australia. We tend to get trends a little after London. I go a bit crazy on clothes. The best thing about London is King's Road, Chelsea, or Hyper-Hyper. When I see the great shirts and fabulous shoes, I think I can't afford not to buy them. So I have binge-shopping sprees. I know I'm going to go home with dollars 2,000 worth of clothes I can't afford. Pop it on the old plastic . . . sorry Mr Taxman.

I love Christmas and the different kind of chill in the air. Part of me feels

nostalgic about it because I'm originally from England.

Australia isn't old enough to have a class structure. If people start to get pompous or posh, people just tell them to chill-out. Here you have Rolls-Royces dropping off multi-squillionaires at the Waldorf, across the road from people in cardboard boxes.

I love English humour. I'm a huge fan of Rowan Atkinson, Fawlty Towers, Absolutely Fabulous. The real hard comedy is here. American comics don't notice if you walk out of the room, here they would follow you out, heckling all the way . . . much more confrontational.

You have to be feeling up and positive and raring to go in London - it would be easy to feel lonely here.'

Guy Pearce stars in 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. The film opens in London next Friday.

(Photograph omitted)