Paul Merson
English footballer and pundit
Going back to addiction.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I am spooked by water underground, water in drains and water in machinery. I am very frightened of mill wheels.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 March 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →
Carrie Fisher
Actor and writer
A bad death . . . fast or slow.
Losing family, friends, and loved ones.
Falling onstage…or anywhere.
More from Philippa Gregory
View profile →An exciting idea. I usually write for an hour or so, and then I go to sleep.
Trolling, meanness and male violence.
I was very sorry to stop at two children – I would have liked to have had a third – and I am very sorry to have got divorced.
A full-time driver/butler/chef.
I’m a lucky woman – I was walking in the rain yesterday and was really happy.
I’m lazy domestically. I don’t do housework. My mother would have called me a slut.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
- What are you most proud of? 103 answers
Also answered this
Sofia Coppola, Stephen Fry, Helena Bonham Carter, Cory Taylor, Sally Mann, Patrick Stewart
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject