Nobody has ever accused me of being a superior communicator. If I could have conveyed to the American people the concerns I had, and my heartbeat, a little more clearly, maybe I would not be unemployed and retired. And I might not be this happy, either. I learned a lot from Ronald Reagan about communication. Never got to be in his league in terms of it, but he could say something and the American people might not agree with the issue, but they could empathize with him.
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →Oversharing. I long to be intimately connected to people and sometimes, among strangers, I don’t read the room.
I’m very impatient – next question.
I’m a bit of a hoarder.
More from Keith McNally
View profile →Taking an overnight train in Europe.
Cycling around Martha’s Vineyard alone in the summer of 1976.
Using knowledge as a weapon.
My children dying before me.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Ina Garten, Bobbi Brown, Vera Wang, Donatella Versace, Angela Hartnett, Martha Stewart
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject