Judith Kerr: What has been your biggest disappointment?

What has been your biggest disappointment?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Judith Kerr said elsewhere, not written here

Not having longer legs.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 May 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Niamh Cusack Irish actress

Never making it into a Sondheim musical.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 October 2021 source ↗

Naga Munchetty

Not being a scratch golfer.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 July 2025 source ↗

Engelbert Humperdinck British singer

Not understanding the business side of my career enough. I could have probably been much wealthier than I am.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 February 2019 source ↗

Lemn Sissay

I spent my life searching for family. I travelled around the world to look each one of them in the eye. Unfortunately, but understandably, for most of them, I am their biggest disappointment.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

More from Judith Kerr

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Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight

When I received my scholarship to art school in 1945.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 May 2019 source ↗

Question Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? Failure & regret

My parents. We didn’t realise how absolutely desperate they were when we left Germany, because my father couldn’t earn anything. A letter turned up fairly recently in which he said, “We’ve been through a terrible time because Julia [my mother] never stopped talking about suicide and not just for herself, but to take the children with her.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 May 2019 source ↗