Olivia de Havilland
Film actress; twice winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress
Nelson Mandela.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
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.
So many. All childcarers and most primary teachers.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
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Desmond Tutu
Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
Just look at a Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa and Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela, and you’ll see that one of the outstanding characteristics of each one of these is how they have poured themselves out prodigally on behalf of others, of their being so utterly selfless.
Sickeningly, it’s probably my wife, because she’s a legend.
Kate Nash
British musician
My mum, because she’s been a nurse for over 40 years. She works in a hospice, and there’s no bullshit with her.
More from Frank Cottrell-Boyce
View profile →I spent an advent in my late teens throttling turkeys.
I once found myself chatting to a big handsome bloke at a party in Oslo. I said, “And what do you do?” “Well,” he said, “I am the king.” Being a great wordsmith, I zinged back, “Oh. Errm. Cool.”
The unguiltiest pleasure.
That it’s impossible to persuade other people of the value of the lessons that life has taught you.
I took the whole family to live in the Basque Country for a year. My children and I have a hereditary blood condition so I took out a health insurance policy. I’m still furious that none of us so much as stubbed a toe.
My inability to say no.
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