In a Dagenham factory at 6am, picking soldiers’ greatcoats from wars around the world to sell at the market in Chelsea. I smelled like mothballs, and no one would come near me.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 June 2025 source ↗
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's long-running Q&A repeatedly asks this standing question, with minor tense variation.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The Wimpy in Kingston when I was 16. I’d recently become vegetarian, and there weren’t many veggie burgers in 1988.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 229 →In South Africa I washed cars, I danced in parking lots and shopping malls, and was a children’s entertainer.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 March 2026 source ↗
Emma Bunton
British singer
When I was younger, I appeared in the Halifax adverts that featured a cake or a bridge made of hundreds of people. You stood there for three days and were not even really seen.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 June 2021 source ↗
Rosanna Arquette
American actress
A really bad film for no money: the director had no idea what he was doing and I was wondering: why am I here?
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2021 source ↗
More from Martin Freeman
View profile →A really careful lobotomy, to switch off bits of my brain.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
Thinking about all the worst possible things: losing people, dying, how am I going to die? All that sort of stuff. I stay awake thinking about furniture and shoes as well. It’s not all death.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
I love clothes and accoutrements, so it would be either a suit or a watch. I love Mark Powell in Soho, and Paul Smith.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
“I don’t love you.”
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
It’s hard to beat David Attenborough. Everything he does is quality. I like people who make me proud to be British.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
I say it a lot to my kids when I’ve lost my temper, and I’ll save up a big one for when they are 18.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
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