I've got an eye for fashion up to a point, by which I mean that I scrub up well. I take half an hour, max, to shower and make up. I still use Pond's face cream, which I was introduced to at an early age. No foundation, but I use lots of mascara.

For work, I quite like clothes to be incidental - trousers of some sort and comfortable shoes. At a certain age I think you have to find a style and stick to it. I'm a stone and a half heavier than I was years ago, which is fine - I don't want to look like a cadaver - but you have to be careful. I was shopping the other day and I managed to get into some rather nice appliquéd jeans. The only thing in their favour, really, was that they fitted. My daughter, Rachel, looked at me and said: "Not dignified."

I empty ashtrays constantly and if I don't have time to wash up, I put the detritus in the sink so I can't see it. Rachel tells me I'm anal, and I think I probably am. But if you leave order behind, you return to order. It makes absolute sense to me.

I drive to work with Radio 4 on, which I've inherited from my mother. God, it's wonderful. You learn so much. I'm a prodigious reader. I love Sue McGregor's A Good Read, but I can't read a thing when I'm trying to learn lines.

A lot of actors talk about "my assistant". It's almost given that you have an assistant when you reach a certain point, but what do you need an assistant for? I can't bear the idea of anyone else opening my post. What's wonderful about starting a new play is that we're all equal. You have to trust each other and bond very quickly. There can be no status and no privileges. Pedigree is quite beside the point in the rehearsal room.

I can put off eating indefinitely. I never eat because it's 1pm or 2pm or even 4pm. I really don't get hungry. If I'm not working, I take Mabel, my jack russell, to Hyde Park, and not even the smell of bacon sarnies from the hot-dog stand tempts me. I love London parks. They give you a sense of the seasons that you don't get on the streets. Very few people approach me in the park; they're mostly dog people and dog people only care about dogs. We tut-tut about the people who don't pick up the shit. That's something I'm fastidious about.

I'm intolerant of queue-jumpers and bad manners generally. I correct people all over the shop and I don't care what they think. I roll down my window and yell, "Thank you!" to people I've let into a line of traffic. I have a terrible temper and when it erupts, it's take-to-the-hills time. The awful thing is that when I'm angry I become incredibly articulate. But I'm also good at saying sorry and I don't sulk, which is important. With me, things have to be said. I'm not very good at zipping it.

I have a very small flat in London and an expansive house in France, and I'm different when I'm there - freer and more relaxed. I entertain friends, I swim naked in my pool, which is heaven. I always despised myself for not speaking fluent French, so I took myself off to the Lycée. I was the oldest there by 35 years but I loved it. I'd wither if I stopped learning.

I smoke about 20 ciggies a day, maybe more. I know it's ridiculous and I've given up loads of times, but I just love it. I associate smoking with good things. The last time I started again I was in France. There was a lot of cooking and eating and drinking going on - everything was perfect. And I stood in my kitchen and thought: "What's missing? I know. A ciggy." And I lit one up there and then.

If I have an evening performance, I slow down during the afternoon and start husbanding my energy. I eat something light - I'm fond of Jacob's Cream Crackers and cheese - and I leave for the theatre at about 5.30. I don't get nervous unless there's somebody out front whose opinion I'm fearful of. I do love the theatre. It's where I began, and so it's home to me.

I don't mourn the passing of what beauty I had, I really don't. I don't dislike the decrepitude of my body - in fact, I respect it, because it's served me well. But what I absolutely hate is if my stamina isn't great or my knees are bad. I hate not being able to walk for miles. When my body finally goes clunk, I'm going to be a very curmudgeonly old lady, because I can't go clunk inside.After curtain down, it's dinner with friends. But even if I'm on my own I always cook and I lay a table. I'm good at lamb shank, flageolet beans and garlic. To me, cooking is the nicest form of giving. I adore food and I wouldn't dream of eating an instant meal. Six pm is drinky time, and I feel a distinct craving. Before 6pm, I'd feel I was transgressing an unwritten rule.

I have a saying: "Red before bed." A £3.99 bottle of Chilean merlot gives you the best night's sleep in the world. It's like being hit over the head. I wake up 10 hours later, feeling like a spring lamb.