I am a bit of a procrastinator.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 March 2024 source ↗
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What most recently made you cry?
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
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Still biting my nails.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 242 →Well, first of all I’d like to change the word “deplore” to “dislike.” I guess that I’m almost a hermit; I don’t enjoy going out that much, and so I tend to take my happiness from the joys of my home and my husband.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, May 2012 source ↗
My pathological incapacity to say no.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2019 source ↗
I never let it go.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2021 source ↗
More from Scott Mills
View profile →I splash out on holidays and scented candles – I’ve got one that my fiancee won’t let me light, so it’s just for show.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
When I left Radio 1: full snotty sobbing on air.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
Katy Perry. I hired a Russell Brand lookalike as a joke for the radio, and she thought it was actually him. When she realised it wasn’t, she burst into tears. She was still married to him, but I didn’t take into account that there were things going on that we didn’t know.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
I went on a private jet with David Hasselhoff, and it was so turbulent between LA and Vegas I thought it was going down. I also thought: “The headline won’t be about me; it will be: David Hasselhoff and friend.”
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
Now. I’ve moved to Hertfordshire after 25 years in London, got a fiancee and a dog, so everything has fallen into place.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
Heights. For Children in Need, I had to abseil off the Orbit in the Olympic Park. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve done.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2022 source ↗
More on identity & self
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