Judith Kerr: If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

The question

If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

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.

Judith Kerr

British writer and illustrator

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Nothing, really, because it was all interesting.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 May 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Kim Wilde English pop singer

There are several boyfriends I wish our paths had not crossed.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 August 2019 source ↗

Monica Dolan

My friend Fritha Goodey wouldn’t have committed suicide.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗

Bobbi Brown

I would do more weightlifting than aerobics. Strong is better than skinny.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 October 2025 source ↗

Bill Bryson American-British author

Nothing. It’s too risky. What if you eliminated a misjudged situation from your life and it turned out that one of your children wasn’t born, or you failed to meet your partner?

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 February 2016 source ↗

More from Judith Kerr

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Question Who deserves an apology from you, and for what? Failure & regret

My parents. We didn’t realise how absolutely desperate they were when we left Germany, because my father couldn’t earn anything. A letter turned up fairly recently in which he said, “We’ve been through a terrible time because Julia [my mother] never stopped talking about suicide and not just for herself, but to take the children with her.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 May 2019 source ↗