Sweet Smell of Success (1957) Directed by Alexander Mackendrick Shown from left: Burt Lancaster. Susan Harrison. Tony Curtis

'A perfect day for me would be not being me,' he says, sucking on a cigarette in the downstairs bar of a Baker Street pub that's been opened at 11am especially for him. 'I'd have someone else's face and I'd go down the shops in the West End and check out all the places I can never go in. I've only been down Oxford Street once. It was a few years ago after an awards ceremony. It was three in the morning. And I got arrested. The only time I ever see the street is from a car. I spend my whole life being driven around.' When he does venture out for walks he rarely gets much beyond Hampstead Heath or the cinema in the O2 Centre on Finchley Road, because he gets too stressed out with people trying to have a pop or photographers chasing after him. He'd wear a disguise, he says, but, really, how do you disguise that walk? 'Wherever I go, there's always someone trying to do your head in. I just jump in a taxi, slide down the back seat and get driven home. I'm not here to moan but it would be nice to be able to go for a walk.' The problem, he thinks, is a basic misunderstanding. Yeah, he agrees grudgingly, he is famous. Yeah, he's made the front page of every tabloid newspaper many times over and been one of the lead items on national television news on several occasions. He's definitely a superstar singer. But he's not, repeat not, a celebrity. 'There are people in this country,' he spits with relish as he sloshes tea round a mug between thumb and forefinger, 'who would go to the opening of an envelope and are only arsed about getting their picture taken. You're 18 years of age and that's all you're after? Having your photo in The Sun ? Go down Kodak, get a photo done and stick it up in your window, you daft bastard!