Rose Tremain
English writer
The film of Restoration. A beautiful cast. An award-winning designer. A massive budget. A dog’s dinner.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
At the time, losing our business, home and all our possessions in 1991 after the failure of our jewellery company. But if that had not happened then other good things would not have happened, either.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 May 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 369 →
Jeremy Kyle
English radio and television presenter
My ears – disappointments that grow bigger each year.
Sally Hawkins
British actress
Realising that I wasn't a fairy changeling child and that David Bowie wasn't the fairy king.
Jaime Winstone
English actress
England losing the World Cup.
More from Monty Don
View profile →Despite a stroke, cancer as a child and various dramas with chainsaws and tractors, the closest was probably when I choked on a lamb chop 25 years ago. Sarah performed the Heimlich manoeuvre and the lamb shot out.
I once had to dig a fire escape from a basement in a health club. It took two weeks.
A tractor, 12 years ago. Bright yellow and still brilliant.
My children. I was away an awful lot when they were little and not very good at being a father when I was around. I could have done better.
Getting my 21-year-old knees back.
More on failure & regret
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 205 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 124 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? 77 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 39 answers
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