Joshua Ferris
American author
Whenever it was, I didn't realise it fully.
When were you happiest?
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
During the first three months of the first lockdown. I was at home with my family and I was such a cliche: I was baking sourdough, making my own granola. It was an idyllic time.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 November 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 577 →
Elaine Paige
English singer and actress
I’m happy: I have a wonderful career and great friends.
Sunday mornings with my parents when I visited from college.
In the 18-yard box.
More from Mariella Frostrup
View profile →The music journalist Paul Morley described me as bland.
A sense of the world being full of possibility and it being in their hands to make it a better one.
I’ve had a few hairy scrapes as a scuba diver.
A foreign correspondent.
Both my grandmother and my mother got dementia. My grandmother has passed away. My mother is in a home. Dementia is my biggest fear because it robs you of the very thing that makes life special.
A few zeros on my bank balance.
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- If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say and why? 23 answers
- What is something you were told by a parent, teacher, or mentor that you still repeat to yourself? 22 answers
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