My biggest disappointment is always myself. That’s my Catholic upbringing.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 February 2022 source ↗
The question
What disappointment has stayed with you longest?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
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You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
My biggest disappointment is always myself. That’s my Catholic upbringing.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 February 2022 source ↗
That Al Gore was denied the American presidency in 2000.
Not playing in the World Cup.
Being phoned by the prime minister and sacked from my role as a home office minister in front of 100 people I was about to speak to. But to be fair to Tony, he did appoint me in the first place.
Not being a dad by the age of 32.
I wanted to be like my dad, who was an academic, because he had an office packed full of books, always had loud music on, and seemed to get to do what he wanted.
There are different flavours of happy, but I think my favourite is the quiet contentment when several generations of family are sitting together watching a crowd-pleaser like Harry Potter on the telly.
I’d rather be enjoyed while I am still here.
A caravan. I was brought up going on caravan holidays – but we quickly realised that a double-axle caravan was too much of a commitment and sold it.
It would have been lovely to have grown up in private like a lot of my friends.
The Strictly Come Dancing final almost destroyed me. I was howling all the way through – John and Johannes and then Rose and Giovanni. Oh my God.
Adam Clayton, Tom Ellis, Jake Shears, Terry O'Neill, Arlene Phillips, Pauline McLynn
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