Nicky will be performing at The Pheasantry, King’s Road, London SW3, on 30 October, 20 and 27 November. Visit pizzaexpresslive.com for tickets
‘This figurine is of my several-times great aunt Sarah Ponsonby, one half of the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’. She and Lady Eleanor Butler were famed for their ‘romantic’ friendship in the early 19th century.’
‘I love this piece by Dutch ceramic artist Bouke de Vries, who made it out of broken shards of 18th-century porcelain plates. I like the romantic idea of things not being whole or perfect. He makes the not so precious, precious.’
‘I stole this ashtray from a restaurant on my first visit to Istanbul in the late 80s. I’ve smoked all my life, but recently tried to give up. I felt so ill that I took it straight up again. The more I smoke, the better my singing voice becomes!’
‘These are watercolour sketches I’ve done for the ceiling dome of Grange Park Opera, the new opera house at West Horsley Place, outside Guildford. I like creating rooms that make you smile.’
‘This photograph is of the famous interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe, my great heroine. There is always a rose underneath it because I feel I should be sending her roses every day – her style is in everything I do.’
‘My Cartier watch was given to me in the early 60s by James Davison, somebody I loved very much. It’s one of the thinnest watches ever made. I only wear it in the evenings because I’m so scared of losing it.’
‘I collect ceramic pomegranates – they’re a symbol of life and generosity. The black one is from the 18th century; the red one is from a Turkish market and I pretend that the white one is by the celebrated ceramicist Edmund de Waal, but it’s not.’
‘When I had bowel cancer in 2010, Lucian Freud sent me this note with flowers. About eight years ago, we became close and had dinner almost every week at The Wolseley. We liked to sing Ethel Merman songs.’
‘This is my debut album, Midnight Matinée. I began cabaret performing by chance after a dare to get up on stage at Bellamy’s in Mayfair, in 2009. It brings back memories of when I was seven, bed-bound with polio. My mother would come and dance to old Cole Porter LPs in my room.’