Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗
A couple of years ago we moved to East Sussex – I had been living in London for 35 years – and couldn’t work out why I kept waking up and thinking, what’s that sound? It was actually silence.
Stress, love, people not understanding me, me not understanding people.
Other people’s suffering.
One after the other, thoughts come banging in – and it’s no sleep for you tonight, dearie.
A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.
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.
Not winning Celebrity MasterChef. I am still gutted, despite many months of pretending to be fine with it.
Harriet Walter, Laurence Fox, Jenna Coleman, Ralf Little, Jessica Brown Findlay, Niamh Cusack
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