I talk too much.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’m so tempted to answer serial killer.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →
Paapa Essiedu
British actor
I find it difficult to sit still.
Laziness, wasting time. I’d like to be able to make films faster.
Flirting with danger.
More from Mark Steel
View profile →Should talk less.
Younger people being amazed that I know what song they’re listening to.
At 16, I thought I’d be part of transforming the world into a socialist egalitarian arena of peace and justice. I’m not sure we’ve quite managed it.
When I was 16, my dad got drunk at the Oval cricket ground and harangued Sir Garry Sobers, possibly the greatest cricketer of all time, because he didn’t agree with who he’d given as man of the match.
Through a series of mistakes in write-ups, I’d like to be remembered for something like being Britain’s finest downhill skier or inventing pickled onions.
When I had cancer. I was having a shave and thought: “Are you meant to have a big hard lump on one side of your neck?”
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Giovanna Fletcher, Bob Schieffer, Michelle Visage, Patti LuPone, Bob Mackie, Su Pollard
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject