BT
I loved my 1 minute 40 seconds singing at the coronation of King Charles. I was the most nervous I’ve been.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 November 2024 source ↗
The question
What accomplishment matters most to you?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
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Others on this question
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Billy Porter
American actor and singer
Holding on to my sanity.
Watching all of Fellini’s movies one summer.
Chris Hoy
British track cyclist, 1994–2013
The six Olympic gold medals, because at school I was never great at sport. When I look back on my career I think, how on Earth did that happen?
Persevering with a career that was predicted to last six months and still being here four decades later.
More from Bryn Terfel
View profile →Unfriendliness.
That moment in Bilbao in 2020, when I tried to cross the street and did a pirouette and suffered a dreadful break in my right leg, which means now I have 10 screws and a band in it.
One horrible afternoon in Chicago when I forgot my words in The Marriage of Figaro, in a role I’d sung hundreds of times.
I’ve been a strong advocate that all my five children should be great swimmers, so you can deduce what my fear is.
I cleaned the toilets at the local pub every Saturday morning.
In 2006, I went fishing for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. On the way back, one of the engines caught fire and then we had one engine for 70 miles. Slowly but surely, we got to Baton Rouge in the darkness but then got very close to a very large passing ship – they didn’t see us and we didn’t see them.
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- What part of your job would surprise outsiders because it takes up so much of your time? 41 answers
Also answered this
Shirley Manson, Billy Porter, Toyah Willcox, Jennifer Hudson, John Simm, Belinda Carlisle
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