MY HAVEN – AL MURRAY

The comedian and actor, 48, in the music room at his west London home

DRUMMER BOY

I moved to this house 15 years ago, and I like to relax by playing the drums and writing music in this room, which is also my office. I started on the drums at nine because of Animal from The Muppet Show and I’m now in two bands, T-34 and Geyser. Here’s all my drumming paraphernalia. The kit was made by the British Drum Company, of which I’m director. My favourite drummer is Phil Collins and I once played with him on a show. Afterwards he said, ‘You were great on the tubs tonight, mate!’ I’ll take that.

YOU KIPPER!

As my comedy character the Pub Landlord I stood as a Free United Kingdom Party candidate in South Thanet at the last General Election. I was up against UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and this is a cartoon of me, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage that was on the cover of The Spectator. On the night of the count, Farage asked me, ‘Have you won?’ I replied, ‘That depends on what you mean by winning, Nigel,’ and he said, ‘Good point!’ He came second and I was sixth, but it was incredibly exciting.

THE FULL MONTY

My dad was born in 1937 so he grew up during the war and my mum’s father was killed at Dunkirk. That gave me a passion for World War II and I grew up going to Normandy and looking at battlefields. I’m particularly interested in Field Marshal Montgomery, who’s an unfashionable figure but I think he was a better general than he’s usually portrayed. A friend gave me this Action Man-style Monty doll and I’ve taken him all round the world and photographed him at various landmarks.

ME AND JUDI

Here’s a photo of me playing Bottom earlier this year in Shakespeare Live! for the RSC opposite Judi Dench as Titania. She was absolutely lovely with a wicked sense of humour. She didn’t give me any tips, she just said, ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to be awfully funny.’ To have her eyeball me while reciting love poetry was the most extraordinary thing. I usually do stand-up comedy on my own, so this was completely different. Performing with the RSC was mind-blowing.

WELL CONNECTED

William Makepeace Thackeray, who wrote Vanity Fair, was my great-greatgreat-grandfather. Before he became a novelist he wrote for Punch magazine from 1843 and was the country’s leading satirical journalist, although sadly I used to associate Punch with dentists’ waiting rooms. This Mr Punch is the inkwell he was given when he left – I don’t know if it’s valuable because people aren’t into Thackeray as much as they should be, but it’s got great sentimental value as a family heirloom.

HOW RUDE

This is the Perrier Award I won at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999 for the Pub Landlord. I accidentally created him five years earlier in an Edinburgh show called Pub Internationale with Harry Hill and featuring the Pub Band – that’s the front of the drum on the far left. I’ve never given him a name and because he’s on stage he lives in a fantasy world where you can be horrible to people and they love it. It would be amazing to be as rude as he is in real life and there be no consequence.