Alison Steadman: Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?

Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Alison Steadman said elsewhere, not written here

I once bought the most expensive moisturiser in the shop and it brought me out in spots. Lesson learned.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗

Others on this question

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Jenny Agutter English actress

A £400 Zandra Rhodes dress for the royal premiere of The Railway Children. More recently, a Wurlitzer jukebox for my husband’s birthday.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 January 2018 source ↗

Su Pollard

A hand-painted beaded dress from New York. It weighs about 16lb and cost me £4,000, 30 years ago.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 August 2025 source ↗

Bruce Dickinson English heavy metal singer

A Cessna Golden Eagle eight-seater aircraft. I flew it across the Atlantic both ways and did two US tours and two European tours in it. I finally sold it and got a job as an airline pilot in which I was paid to fly, rather than the other way round.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 July 2024 source ↗

Stephen Dorff American actor

When I was 24 or 25, I bought a Warhol canvas. It was a lot of money to throw down on a little painting, but I’ve always loved art.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 July 2021 source ↗