A hand-painted beaded dress from New York. It weighs about 16lb and cost me £4,000, 30 years ago.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 August 2025 source ↗
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
All my clothes are secondhand, but I did buy a pair of new silver Vivienne Westwood shoes to get married in, which I still have.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 196 →
Martin Compston
Scottish actor
An ornate carved pool table. With travelling, I’ve not had a game on it in two years.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 March 2022 source ↗
Adeel Akhtar
British actor
A snazzy coffee machine that grinds beans and steams milk.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 May 2018 source ↗
My hybrid car. Not glamorous, not fast, but indispensable.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 February 2024 source ↗
More from Maggie O'Farrell
View profile →I started stammering badly the first time I was on live radio, on Woman’s Hour on Radio 4. When I think about it now it brings me out in a cold sweat.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
Last summer, swimming in a waterfall in Cumbria with my daughters.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
How long have you got? I have written a memoir and the subtitle is Seventeen Brushes with Death.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
Interrupting or talking over people. As a stammerer, I am particularly alert to this.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed George Floyd’s murder. It took astonishing courage to stand on the pavement in front of those policemen, and we all owe her so much.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
Last week, while I was wet-wrapping my child’s chronic eczema.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 March 2023 source ↗
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