Which living person do you most admire, and why?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Ben Stiller said elsewhere, not written here
Filippo Grandi, United Nations Refugee Agency high commissioner.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Mary Portas English retail consultant
My wife, Melanie. She's had real trauma and loss in her life, yet she starts every day with joy, and sees the world as a good place
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 March 2012 source ↗
Patricia Hodge English actress
The Queen. Her like has not been seen before and I doubt it will ever be again.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 September 2018 source ↗
Gayle King Broadcaster
Oprah Winfrey. She always does the right thing—even when no one is looking.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2016 source ↗
Mohamed ElBaradei Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997-2009; Nobel Peace Prize 2005
I have a lot of respect and admiration for President Carter. It was a delight when I got the Nobel Peace Prize to get a letter from him. It meant a lot to me, getting that letter from a man who is my idol in many ways. ... He always has the courage to express his views, his convictions. He doesn’t hesitate to run against the current. He has always had a moral certitude. He looks at the ethics and morality of his action, and that’s key. Whatever we do in life, whether privately or publicly, we need to have a compass. We need to be sure that what we do is not only good for us, but good for the people at large. That’s ethics. That’s morality. I think we need to always know that our work is not just good for us in the short term, but it’s morally correct. And when I talk about morality, I don’t talk about religion. I talk about a moral code, a moral value, which I think we all have, being honest, being fair, being correct. These are values I think we all share.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2006 source ↗

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