Sam Neill
New Zealand actor
My complete ineptitude at sport.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
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.
Not winning Celebrity MasterChef. I am still gutted, despite many months of pretending to be fine with it.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 366 →
Judith Kerr
British writer and illustrator
Not having longer legs.
Paul Smith
English fashion designer
Missing out on a good education.
Bill Bailey
Comedian and musician
Not being chosen as the next Bond.
More from Dawn O’Porter
View profile →My Auntie Jane. She took me in, aged 10, and, after my mother died, healed my broken heart by filling our dining room with food and people. Still cooking at the grand old age of 89. My icon.
So far, getting older has made almost everything better.
Hungry, hard-working, cats.
A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.
Perimenopausal anxiety, the terrible feeling of impending doom, something awful happening to my children, writing deadlines. Apart from that, I’m quite chilled.
The early days of motherhood. We lived in a sweet little bungalow in LA that had a pool. We threw lots of parties. We had a cute dog and a mad Siamese. Trump had never been president, we’d never heard of coronavirus, Claire’s Accessories was still going strong. Good times.
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? 203 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
Alison Moyet, Lena Headey, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Jane Asher, du Beke, Kathy Lette
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