I shall be taking more interest in the Kensington and Chelsea by-election today than most people in Sussex - and not simply because Michael Portillo is likely to come back into the House of Commons.

That's because I was brought up in Kensington. Even though I now have some expertise on Sussex in general, and Brighton in particular, I know Kensington much better.

There's nothing like growing up in a place and roaming around to gain that knowledge. By the time I grew up, I was familiar with every street in Kensington and, for good measure, in neighbouring Fulham, Hammersmith and Chelsea too.

It's a fascinating part of the world and if someone towed it down to the sea, lowering property prices at the same time, I wouldn't mind living there still. But it's only a small part of the capital, which I still find a city of infinite surprise.

Indeed, it constantly amazes me when it is so cheap and easy to reach London from most parts of Sussex that so few people bother to do it. For a tenner, you can go up there by rail and explore as I did last Saturday, learning all the while.

Having seen most of the main sights over the years, I like to look at lesser-known parts of London these days and it was with delight that I turned once again into the organised chaos that is Sir John Soane's house, near Holborn.

After years of neglect, Soane is at last receiving recognition as both a fine architect and true English eccentric.

This house is a tribute to both aspects of his character.

From there, it is only a short step to the home of Dr Samuel Johnson. The great wordsmith had his London house rather appropriately only a few yards from the great printing houses of Fleet Street.

Dr Johnson became a regular visitor to Brighton in later years and there is a plaque on a house in West Street recording that he often stayed in a previous mansion there. But his admirers have to go to London these days to get the full flavour of the man and his extraordinary feat in producing the first proper dictionary.

The doctor, although old and weighty, even went swimming in the sea and Smoaker Miles, who helped fashionable visitors enter the water, told him: "Why, sir, you must have been a stout-hearted gentleman forty years ago."

He also enjoyed arguing with Dr Michell, the rector of St Nicholas, and once their dispute at the Old Ship assembly rooms became so violent that a dance there stopped in alarm and the master of ceremonies had to intervene to settle them down.

Dr Johnson liked metropolitan life and did not think a lot of Brighton, which in the 18th Century was a small windswept fishing town. He said: "It is so truly desolate that if one had a mind to hang oneself for desperation at being obliged to live there, it would be difficult to find a tree on which to fasten the rope."

He might have been more impressed with the bustle and buzz of modern-day Brighton. But he was a capital fellow and famously opined that when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. As a frequent tripper to town, I'd say amen to that.

Meanwhile Michael Portillo, if he gets back tonight, will be a real asset to the House of Commons, whatever people think of his political views. He will also follow in the long list of colourful characters, such as Alan Clark and Nicholas Scott, who have cheerfully represented this intriguing part of London.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.