Ian McEwan
British novelist and screenwriter
To have grown up with my siblings. They were at least 10 years older than me.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
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.
I’d edit out all the awful men I managed to find who confirmed my worst suspicions about my body and my character.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 February 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 207 →All the times I was mean to someone.
Reggie Yates
British actor and media personality
How little confidence I had in my late teens and early 20s.
I would have been better with money.
More from Minnie Driver
View profile →When I was starting out, in the early 90s, I had to fake an orgasm in a room full of male ad execs at an audition for a chocolate bar ad. It was grim.
With great stories.
That your life is only in this very second.
I thought that I would become more mature about certain things, and it didn’t happen.
I know I should be more evolved, but the person I would like to say sorry to I’m not ready to say sorry to yet.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 372 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 125 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 124 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 79 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 40 answers
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Eleanor Tomlinson, Guy Pearce, Katherine Parkinson, Kiefer Sutherland, Omid Djalili, Patricia Hodge
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