The very first day that I was filming Top Gear, for which I was so unqualified because I’d only ever driven a Fiat Uno. I got into a DB7 Vantage Volante outside the Aston Martin factory, put my foot on the accelerator and bunny-hopped across the gravel because I’d forgotten to take the handbrake off.
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Being torn to shreds by a very elderly woman for driving badly on the Isle of Man, maybe 15 years ago. She stopped in the middle of the road and really let me have it.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →When my trousers split on stage in Burn the Floor in Australia. I had always been warned to wear my flesh underwear and I did not that day.
Giving a speech in high school at a pep rally that wasn’t going so well and the dean unplugged the mic. Apparently, I was rambling and the spirit of the cafeteria was being weighed down.
When I concentrate, I put my thumb in my mouth. I once did it during a really important meeting when asked a question I didn’t know the answer to. When I left the meeting my friend said: “What did you put your thumb in your mouth for?” I didn’t know I’d done it.
More from Chiwetel Ejiofor
View profile →Still to come, I think.
As vital as breathing.
At King’s College hospital when I was 16; the job was putting hundreds of pieces of A4 paper into A4 transparent envelopes. I lasted one day.
It’s actually people knowing how fearful I am.
As an optimist.
The different areas of global catastrophe.
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