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

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.

Tim Minchin

Australian musician, writer, actor and comedian

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I’d take back some dumb shit I said when I had no audience and found that being shocking made people laugh.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

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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 ↗

Adwoa Aboah British fashion model

Nothing. Everything’s got me to this point and I had to learn lots of things. Maybe I just wouldn’t have been so terrified all the time and I would have got up a bit earlier – I missed quite a few mornings.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 March 2019 source ↗

Jenna Coleman English actress

I would take away fear.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 February 2019 source ↗

Justin Hawkins

Absolutely nothing.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 source ↗

More from Tim Minchin

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Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Maybe if we all admire her hard enough, she’ll live beyond this incredibly disturbing era.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

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

Maybe when my wife Sarah and I were walking back to our hotel in Covent Garden, London, through the snow after the Olivier awards when Matilda won all the stuff. Hold on, I’m meant to say the birth of my children, aren’t I?

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

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

Anxiety, mostly, once you have kids.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

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