It was only 20 minutes into his first public questioning session by peers at the London Assembly, but the newly elected Mayor of London was already getting fidgety.

Glancing at his watch, Boris Johnson appeared slightly apprehensive about the process ahead of him.

“Have you got two-and-half hours to go from now? What’s the deal here?” he asked, slightly bemused.

He was reassured by Jennette Arnold, the Assembly chair, that he could not be kept any longer than that “so you need to relax”.

Smiling, Mr Johnson told his colleagues that he would submit to their “interrogation”.

More than two hours later, when he was dismissed after fulfilling his statutory obligations, Mr Johnson was typically upbeat about the marathon gruelling session at City Hall. Leaping up from his chair and waving goodbye to the packed chamber, which included his predecessor Ken Livingstone , he pronounced the experience “a delight”.

That might be a slight exaggeration when describing a process which involved prolonged and often tedious questioning, but his presence certainly added a degree of hilarity to the dry proceedings.

Mr Johnson, accused of being dull and boring during the election campaign, was back on form.

Questioned over a proposal for a new bridge, Mr Johnson said that he was not convinced by it and looked to the Greens for their views on how to get people moving across the Thames River.

“Do you envisage a kind of catapult?” he asked.

He was handed a bicycle helmet by a Labour member and asked if he knew what it was – a reference to his recent failure to observe the rules of the road.

Mr Johnson said he was a “punctilious obeyer” of traffic lights, and would wear a helmet in future: “I am motivated by a desire to be as anonymous as possible”.

On the question of tall buildings, Mr Johnson noted that beauty was often in the eye of the beholder. He said that some of his Assembly peers may want to “blow up the House of Commons”, though he conceded that it was probably not for aesthetic reasons.

Announcing that he would re-phase some traffic lights throughout the capital, he said he was appalled that pedestrians were “forced to sprint at a rate of 1.2 metres per second to get across the road”.

At times he had colleagues scrambling for their dictionaries, telling them he would submit to their “catechism”. Asked about whether his priorities lay in improving conditions for drivers, cyclists, or pedestrians, he could “meditate at length” over that kind of “utilitarian calculus”, although he would not do it today.

Then, questioned at length about the validity of a series of appointments that he has made since his election, Mr Johnson resorted to speaking in Latin. “Speak English,” shouted his opponents.

Criticised for appointing a series of deputy mayors, Mr Johnson said: “I think the more deputy mayors, the merrier. I think they are a wonderful bunch. I haven’t created new posts. I might have sprayed a few titles around.”

He clashed with other members on several occasions and was told by Jenny Jones, for the Greens that “you can’t waffle”.

Today’s meeting was the first of several occasions when Mr Johnson will appear in front of the Assembly to answer questions about his policies, advisers and other issues surrounding the mayoralty.

But one member of his audience, at least didn't seem overly impressed.

While he was seen chuckling on several occasions during the proceedings, Mr Livingstone declined to Mr Johnson a thumbs up.

“Its clear he is still learning,” he said.

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