Mo Gilligan
British comedian
I don’t think I would change anything because it might not have got me here.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
To have grown up with my siblings. They were at least 10 years older than me.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 August 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 203 →
Oliver Sacks
Neurologist and writer
The peace of the Sabbath, of a stopped world, a time outside time, was palpable, infused everything, and I found myself drenched with a wistfulness, something akin to nostalgia, wondering what if: What if A and B and C had been different? What sort of person might I have been? What sort of a life might I have lived?
Jodi Picoult
American author
I would not let Nick Cassavetes direct My Sister’s Keeper, the film. He said [the ending] was going to match what was in the book, then changed it.
Absolutely nothing.
More from Ian McEwan
View profile →The BBC World Service followed by the dawn chorus.
In my mid- to late-20s, in London, beginning to publish, living hand to mouth, having fun. Also now, when love and life and work have finally cohered.
Having a gun held to my head at a May Day rally during the revolution in Grenada. I was mistaken for a CIA agent.
Exhilarating. I’ve been extremely lucky in that the person I love, Annalena, happens to be my wife.
Angela Merkel. Under attack from all sides, she tries to keep alive the dreams of a tolerant, inclusive, open society.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this
Julian Clary, Ronald Harwood, Harlan Coben, Sandi Toksvig, Nicholson Baker, Mary McCartney
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All failure & regret questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject