Rigoletto at Opera North. Photo by Clive Barda

What would be on your rider? Apparently, Britney Spears once asked for a framed photo of Princess Diana, and Jennifer Lopez an all-white dressing room and her coffee to be stirred anti-clockwise.

This week I was at an event held by the Royal Society of Arts, and the activist and writer Scarlett Curtis urged us to think about what our riders might be. As a hack who came of age in the era of typewriters, I certainly don’t need silence in order to knock out a piece. However, Curtis had assembled a list of writers with particular requirements. How about “Schubert, privately and alone” (Lord Black, deputy chairman of the Telegraph Media Group), “a deadline” (Helen Fielding, author of the Bridget Jones books), and “a kettle and English breakfast tea” (Richard Curtis, screenwriter). Scarlett herself?…