Olly Alexander
English singer and actor
I can be an overthinker and a vicious self-critic.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
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.
Avoidance coping.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 August 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →Self-loathing that rises to the level of deploring.
Pauline McLynn
Irish character actress and author
I talk over people all the time.
Self-righteousness and a phobia of embarrassment.
More from Rose Ayling-Ellis
View profile →If emergency train announcements were written up on the information screen. The times I ended up at the wrong destination could easily have been avoided.
“I’ll tell you later.” They never do.
Rapping the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme on national television.
My dad’s family, for fake drowning when I was 12 on holiday in France – it caused such embarrassment that we had to leave. All because I wanted to get the inflatable ring off my brother. It still haunts me. I guess acting was always going to be my future.
That my work has given deaf children more confidence in themselves and a sense of ownership of who they are.
I didn’t email my grandfather enough before he passed away.
More on identity & self
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Adrian Dunbar, Alison Steadman, Angela Griffin, Audra McDonald, Carrie Fisher, Charlotte Church
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