Richard Coles: If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? — FLAPSS

The question

If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

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

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

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

RC

Richard Coles

British musician, writer, presenter and priest

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My financial incompetence.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Aidan Gillen Irish actor

The floral waistcoat and shocking-pink shirt combo I wore on my 21st.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2017 source ↗

What I studied at college – A-level economics.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 April 2025 source ↗

I would tell myself to stop being such a worrier.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗

Joan Jett American singer, songwriter and guitarist

I don’t think I’d change anything: the bad forms you more than the good.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 November 2020 source ↗

More from Richard Coles

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Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

My paso doble on Strictly Come Dancing would be hard to beat.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Question As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? Identity & self

A great composer. I wrote to Benjamin Britten to tell him this and that he was my third favourite composer. For some reason he didn’t feel moved to reply.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Question How would you describe what love feels like to you? Relationships

The best thing in the world.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

Technically, Ibiza 1990, because of the amount of ecstasy I’d taken.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

With an international holiday.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

Don’t overcook pasta.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

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