My first wife, because I left her.
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
He knows who he is. I’ve apologised. I wish it made more difference.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 May 2016 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 209 →
Karamo Brown
American television host, personality and actor
To my younger self for not being patient with myself, and for giving up on myself at times.
Ian Wright
English footballer and pundit
My ex-wife, because I should have been a better man.
Richard Osman
English TV presenter and writer
To my kids, for my shortcomings.
More from Lionel Shriver
View profile →I would have taken more drugs.
A selection of single paragraphs that perfectly capture something I’ve thought or felt, even if it’s shameful or perverse.
As not having been tiresome.
Getting exactly what I wanted.
My own bad prose.
More on failure & regret
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- 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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Joanna Scanlan, Julian Clary, Bernadine Evaristo, Val McDermid, Lolita Chakrabarti, Monty Don
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