Joan Bakewell: When were you happiest?

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.

Recorded Joan Bakewell said elsewhere, not written here

My student days at Cambridge.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2013 source ↗

Others on this question

Now, because of my marriage and because since September 2019 I’ve been free of clinical depression.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2023 source ↗

Jay McInerney American writer

When my mother let me stay home from school even though I wasn't ill.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 June 2009 source ↗

Hayley Mills English actress

Now. This is the best time of my life.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 March 2010 source ↗

Watching my sons ski down a mountain for the first time.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, February 2024 source ↗

A hymn called The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2013 source ↗

Wondering if I've turned the gas off.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2013 source ↗

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