British actor and director Harris Dickinson made his breakthrough in 2017 playing the lead in Eliza Hittman’s indie drama Beach Rats. He has since starred in films including Babygirl, Scrapper, Steve McQueen’s Blitz and the Palme d’Or winning Triangle of Sadness. Earlier this year it was announced that he will play John Lennon in Sam Mendes’ upcoming four-part biopic of The Beatles. Born in east London, he trained in acting at Raw Academy in Walthamstow in his youth and began making short films as a teenager. His feature-length directorial debut, Urchin, about a young homeless man struggling with addiction and mental health problems, premiered at Cannes in May this year where it took home the Fipresci Prize and the Un Certain Regard best performance award for its lead Frank Dillane. It’s out in UK cinemas today and on 10 October in the US.

I was lucky enough to see this film at Telluride but it’s not out yet. It has two – well, multiple incredible performances – but two standouts by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal who play William Shakespeare and his wife. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name, it explores a period in the couple’s life that inspired the play Hamlet, told from the perspective of Shakespeare's wife. I don’t want to spoil it, but at the midpoint of the film there are some really major shifts going on, particularly with Jessie's character, that I found very moving and powerful. I'm just in awe of what they've done in that film. Chloé is one of those directors who never misses.

I’ve recently come to the end of this book about the political, social and media landscape in the UK over the past 20, 30 years, leading up to now. I found it useful, and angering – it shed light on stuff we probably all know about already, but it cements them and unveils a lot of interesting things. There's a lot in there that makes you realise how rhetoric is created, and that made me think about how much anger and division there is at the moment. The book really lays out the genesis of that.

I like to go to this spot in Dalston a lot. They serve wood-fired food. It has a really nice little vibe and the staff are amazing. They've got this Marmite bread, which is sourdough soaked in butter, that they cut up and fry, and then you break loads of cheese on it. There’s also amazing wood-fired cauliflowers and various kinds of meat, so it's friendly for everyone. I would describe the atmosphere as casual but thoughtful. When I go, I always like to get the Marmite bread, and then the steak – they do a really good steak.

This is one of those songs that I remember really well when I was first played it by my stepdad. I remember the exact road we were on, the smell of the car, and the light. It was a very specific time in my life: hearing it for the first time, feeling like I was enjoying rock and roll. It’s got a good feeling, this song. I probably didn't appreciate it as much as a kid, didn't understand the musical basis of it but as I've got older, my appreciation has grown. I like to listen to it on my way home from work now.

This is a great history podcast hosted by David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell. There’s a really good episode chronicling the events around a storm that happened in London in 1703. It’s not spoken about much in history lessons, but it killed 10,000 people, in comparison to the Great Fire of London, which killed six. There was a diarist, Daniel Defoe, who wrote an account of it, but he was known to be unreliable with the truth, so he would fabricate certain things. So it’s hard to know what’s true and what’s false, which I find interesting.