Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2017 source ↗
On a walking safari in the middle of the Kenyan bush. I had no phone, no mirror, nothing, and I was really happy because I had no distractions.
This may sound nauseating, but I am a very happy person. I love my work, I love my life and I'm told by those who know/love me that it's a bit like living with Tigger. Bloody annoying, I should think.
My first summer working, in 1984. I’d come out of drama school, I’d landed a job that got me an Equity card doing Godspell in Aberystwyth – and it was just unmitigated joy.
Now. Although I am on tour and I will be deliriously happy when that finishes, because I'll be back home.
Anxiety. Usually the best response is to think hard about things, work up some solutions and then go to sleep.
As health minister, I brought in breast and cervical cancer screening. And in 1994 I called the first debate on gay rights for a quarter-century and we got the age of consent down to 18. There are pubs in Brighton where I still can’t pay for a drink.
Not becoming chancellor.
I would be richer, I’d have beaten Mrs Thatcher’s ban on women in the cabinet, and I would be a dame.
Brighton, 1984. I was in another hotel just a few yards away.
Alan Johnson, Andrew Marr, Angela Eagle, Anita Rani, Barbara Walters, Bob Schieffer
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