Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? — FLAPSS

The question

Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

LL

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

English interior designer and television personality

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

The missus. She is the glamour mamma mia at the top of our feudal pyramid. We all live together, so she’s a full-time grandmother and rules the roost. How she steered us through lockdown was extraordinary.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 October 2022 source ↗

Others on this question

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Neil Young. Not in that order.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2009 source ↗

Obama. He is a man of integrity and nobody seems to have integrity these days.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2017 source ↗

David Haye British boxer

Muhammad Ali – he made boxing the glamorous sport it is today. Last month I launched a petition to grant him an honorary knighthood.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 April 2016 source ↗

Lemn Sissay. What happened to him and what he’s done with his life is extraordinary.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

More from Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen

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Question Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought? Money & investment

My wife. I am a lavish present-giver. I love worshipping my wife with beautiful bits and pieces – it is one of my greatest pleasures.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 October 2022 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

I am crucified by my modesty: it’s terrible.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 October 2022 source ↗

Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

I was nearly hit by an enormous gold-fibreglass cherub in a shopping centre. It fell five storeys and smashed into a thousand pieces about 4ft away from me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 October 2022 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

This is going to horribly upset my wife, my children and my grandchildren, but it was when I did The Greatest Snowman last year for Channel 4. Being let loose on an Austrian mountainside to build snow sculptures was my happy point, and who knew I’d find an icy G-spot at nearly 58.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 October 2022 source ↗

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

Other people’s decorating, if I feel they’ve missed an opportunity and just decorated in that wet-cardboard, modern-grey thing. That’s a life not properly lived.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 October 2022 source ↗

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