Courtney Pine
British jazz musician
I would have spent more time practising and got a proper lawyer to sort out my first album contract.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
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.
I would have taken more drugs.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 203 →
James Norton
English actor
I would have started therapy earlier.
I would try and get to being comfortable with myself quicker.
Billy Ocean
British singer
I would do a lot more investments.
More from Lionel Shriver
View profile →My own bad prose.
A selection of single paragraphs that perfectly capture something I’ve thought or felt, even if it’s shameful or perverse.
He knows who he is. I’ve apologised. I wish it made more difference.
As not having been tiresome.
Getting exactly what I wanted.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 69 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
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