Jennifer Egan
Novelist, short story writer
That Al Gore was denied the American presidency in 2000.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Forest Green Rovers, my football team, getting relegated.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
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Jenny Agutter
English actress
When I was 14 I went up for Juliet with Zeffirelli and I was hugely disappointed that I didn’t get that.
Boy George
British musician
Getting arrested in New York and discovering how lacking in morality US law enforcers are. Being handcuffed to a metal trolley in Bellevue Hospital because I cut my foot while being dragged from a police car, and listening to nurses chatting about hair products as I screamed for something to stop me hallucinating.
Rufus Wainwright
Singer, songwriter and composer
Not getting proper dance lessons as a young person. I was a serious flamer.
More from Zack Polanski
View profile →I get trolled on a daily basis so it probably involved my teeth, but that was until I learned to love my teeth.
Those who create the doom.
Being misrepresented by a Sun journalist 12 years ago.
Doomscrolling on my phone.
I’m going to confess I haven’t finished The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg.
A dog bounding through the grass on a summer’s day chasing a squirrel.
More on failure & regret
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
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Alan Johnson, Angela Eagle, Anne Robinson, Barack Obama, Caroline Lucas, Chris Bryant
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