The question
Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
A caravan. I was brought up going on caravan holidays – but we quickly realised that a double-axle caravan was too much of a commitment and sold it.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 February 2022 source ↗
Paintings and guitars. I have Picasso prints and one Rembrandt etching.
I have a Stratocaster, which is part of my long, doomed ambition to become Jimi Hendrix.
A pair of Saint Laurent trousers.
The most extravagant thing was a bottle of 1904 armagnac for $1,000. I spent $10,000 on a Martin guitar in the 90s. I also spent $100,000 on a Fairlight keyboard and I ended up giving it away. Oh well.
I wanted to be like my dad, who was an academic, because he had an office packed full of books, always had loud music on, and seemed to get to do what he wanted.
My biggest disappointment is always myself. That’s my Catholic upbringing.
The Strictly Come Dancing final almost destroyed me. I was howling all the way through – John and Johannes and then Rose and Giovanni. Oh my God.
It would have been lovely to have grown up in private like a lot of my friends.
I’d rather be enjoyed while I am still here.
There are different flavours of happy, but I think my favourite is the quiet contentment when several generations of family are sitting together watching a crowd-pleaser like Harry Potter on the telly.
Adam Clayton, Tom Ellis, Jake Shears, Terry O'Neill, Arlene Phillips, Julie Andrews
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