Glenda Jackson said I was an amateur during rehearsal for The White Devil at the Old Vic. I called her a cow, but that was inadequate.
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
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.
When I was growing up, my mother would accuse me of showing off. That’s the most shaming, humbling, horrible thing. What was I doing? Showing off!
The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 April 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →I was called the N-word in Romford, by someone stepping off a train as I was getting on.
This was said about me in a Radio 1 focus group: “I don’t pay my licence fee to hear scummy northerners.”
Eleanor Tomlinson
English actress
“You were amazing in Game of Thrones.” I say it’s the worst thing – it’s also the best!
More from Graham Norton
View profile →Now that I’m at this end of my career, I’m gobsmacked that I’ve managed to cling on for as long as I have.
Impatience married with being very quick to judge.
Back in the day, when comedy was crueller, my monologues were full of terrible jokes about people, and you can’t apologise because then you’re asking people to forgive you. Your punishment is to walk around knowing you said these horrible things.
I was stabbed in my 20s. It was a late-night mugging and, while taking my wallet, they stabbed me in my chest.
I called Elizabeth McGovern Elizabeth Montgomery throughout a show. But, bless her, she didn’t say anything.
Our wedding weekend in Ireland.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 220 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 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? 62 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this · A–Z
Adam Clayton, Adam Kay, Adam Lambert, Alex Lawther, Alison Steadman, Ally McCoist
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