Chris McCausland: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? — FLAPSS

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

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.

CM

Chris McCausland

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My college years when I was 17 to 19, before the responsibilities of adulthood, just doing the things that I was good at and liked – computers, maths, further maths (I was a geek).

The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 577 →

Harry Redknapp English football player and manager

When I met [my wife] Sandra. I was coming up 17. We met at the Two Puddings, a dance hall in Stratford.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 May 2019 source ↗

Clive Myrie British journalist, newsreader, and presenter

Whenever I’m with my wife and I’m not preoccupied with work.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2024 source ↗

Mike Wallace American journalist

Nineteen thirty-nine. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Station WOOD, 20 bucks a week.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2015 source ↗

The first time I stood on top of the hill that I now live on, in 2007.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

More from Chris McCausland

View profile →

Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

I was thrown out of a club by bouncers when I walked into somebody and told them that I was registered blind. They said: “Don’t give a fuck – you don’t belong in here.” As a straight white man, it gives you a taste of what other people have to contend with.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question Which book do you still mean to read, and why has it stayed on your list? Taste & recommendation

To Kill a Mockingbird – I was meant to read it for an exam and I didn’t and I cheated. I was allowed to use a laptop to type my answers because I couldn’t see my writing, so I hid an electronic copy of the book on the laptop.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

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

Loud and noisy.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question What accomplishment matters most to you? Craft & work

Strictly. I went into it thinking I would last two weeks!

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

When I was losing my sight, I couldn’t see where I was going, and I went into an undertaker’s thinking it was a barber’s. I asked the undertaker whether he had many waiting.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question How would you sum yourself up in three words? Identity & self

Hard-working, resilient, irritating.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

More on time & hindsight

Also answered this

Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Tyler Moore, Lance Black, Jerry Hall, Cathy Rigby, Tamara Mellon

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

All time & hindsight questions
The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject

Report this answer