A lady came up to me in Tesco last year and said, “Excuse me, but didn’t you used to be Roger McGough?”
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
“Let’s face it, you’re not Ingrid Bergman.” I was 19 and he was a potential boyfriend. My only thought at the time was: “I’m not?”
The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 August 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 124 →
David Hasselhoff
American actor, singer, and television personality
"You can't see your children for two weeks." (When I was going through my divorce.)
“Next! We’re looking for somebody else.”
Jason Manford
English comedian and singer
Someone once said online that they hated me so much they wanted to stab me with a spoon. A knife’s easy, but a spoon – that takes real hatred.
More from Stockard Channing
View profile →A dress designer.
Not keeping off the last 5lbs.
Climate change.
At the election of Joe Biden, thinking we were out of the woods. Wrong.
Don’t answer every question you’re asked.
Fifteen years ago, I totally forgot my lines on stage and was mortified. We skipped two pages of dialogue and took three minutes off the play – to the delight of the audience!
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 369 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 205 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 124 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 77 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 39 answers
Also answered this
Rose Ayling-Ellis, Toby Stephens, Zack Polanski, Belinda Carlisle, Graydon Carter, Juliet Stevenson
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