Adam Peaty
British swimmer; Olympic champion 2016 and 2021
To the people who, because of my career, I cannot spend time with. I have to be selfish, unfortunately.
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
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.
To two ex-girlfriends, for my cowardice.
Rosanna Greenstreet, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2009 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 210 →Mum, because I never really knew how to cope with her alcoholism.
Karamo Brown
American television host, personality and actor
To my younger self for not being patient with myself, and for giving up on myself at times.
Julian Clary
English actor, comedian, novelist and presenter
I’ve made some terrible remarks about people over the years in the interests of light entertainment, and I regret them all.
More from Alain de Botton
View profile →The architect Peter Zumthor, for the baths at Vals in Switzerland.
Machismo.
Fear, anxiety, longing, love, art, beauty.
At 12, I wanted to be an architect, at 18, a writer, and now, at forty, an architect again. I’m powerfully drawn to everything related to building, but I also love ideas. These are my two passions.
I believed that the real challenge in love was finding ‘the right one’. I now realise that it’s not a case of finding the right one, so much as learning to love rightly.
Pulping books.
More on failure & regret
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- Which moment embarrassed you most? 126 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 81 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 41 answers
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