Laura Mvula
English singer
My debut album.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 August 2014 source ↗
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Being happy. I think that transcends the results of my matches, the so-called successes or failures. How would you like to be remembered? As someone who dedicated their life to what they were doing at the time. Right now, it’s tennis, but I want to have the same dedication for whatever I do after, whether it be motherhood or another career.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗
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Desmond Tutu
Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
One moment, Nelson Mandela is in jail, and the next moment, he is walking, a free man. One moment, we are shackled as the oppressed of apartheid; the next, we are voting for the very first time. I was 63 when I voted for the first time in my life in the country of my birth. Nelson Mandela was 76 years of age. But it happened, it happened. It happened partly because the international community supported us. People prayed for us. People demonstrated on our behalf, especially young people. Students at universities and college campuses used to sit out in the baking sunshine to force their institutions to divest and the miracle happened. We became free because we were helped and we want to say a big “thank you” to the world. And, you can become free nonviolently.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗
Clive Myrie
British journalist, newsreader, and presenter
Surviving this world.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2024 source ↗
John Grisham
American writer and lawyer
Being able to write books that entertain people around the world.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 December 2015 source ↗
More from Johanna Konta
View profile →When I was a young girl in Sydney, I used to go running with my dad. I would wake him up at the crack of dawn and we had this route to the top of a golf course – we’d usually make it there for sunrise.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗
My parents, because they did what they did to give me the opportunities to do what I do. They left their lives behind in Australia and started again in their 40s in a new country.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗
Like when you get the giggles in a room full of people where you should be quiet.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗
When I was five, I wanted to be a cleaning lady; when I was nine, I wanted to be the world’s number one tennis player.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗
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