Cerys Matthews
Welsh singer-songwriter
Unfinished songs.
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
A couple of years ago we moved to East Sussex – I had been living in London for 35 years – and couldn’t work out why I kept waking up and thinking, what’s that sound? It was actually silence.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 March 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 194 →
Marc Quinn
British painter and sculptor
Almost anything seems super urgent to deal with at 4am. Then I can't remember it in the morning.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Irish actor
Wanting to be better: a better actor, a better father.
People singing in the street.
More from John Simm
View profile →Going to pieces while meeting John Squire, the lead guitarist of the Stone Roses, backstage after a gig. I completely lost the ability to speak. I told him I had the same guitars as he’d just used on stage, and when he asked me which ones, the words completely went out of my head and there was a huge pause, and then his wife tapped his shoulder and he wandered off.
Professionally, becoming a relative success in a job that I love; and personally, helping to raise two wonderful children.
Arrogance, bullying, meanness – just try to be kind, it’s not difficult.
After the birth of both my children, although Manchester United winning the treble in 1999 came pretty close.
Outliving my kids – and rats.
Working in a very busy bar in the West End when I was trying to pay my way through drama school. I had to dance in a cage in a vest and cycling shorts to Venus by Bananarama, Greased Lightnin’ and Y.M.C.A. every night. It was excruciating.
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