A brilliant hi-tech, low weight tent.
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
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What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
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Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
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 painting by Renoir, paid for by demanding a huge fee for a screenwriting deal with a producer I didn’t want to work for. The movie was never made.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 June 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 197 →
Tracy-Ann Oberman
Actor and writer
A beautiful, sequined dress for a showbiz function. It was pushing £1,850.
Angela Hartnett
English chef
When I first started at The Connaught, I bought a pair of antique diamond earrings at Fred Leighton in New York.
Anna Paquin
New Zealand actress
My husband and I own some art, but we are not huge spenders.
More from Lee Child
View profile →In 1993, making love on the beach of a deserted island in the Bahamas.
“Try this, you’ll love it.”
Always saying yes to people. For example, I’m doing this.
More than I can, sadly. I led the softest of lives in the softest of times, and my daughter will face sterner challenges.
The exact median middle-aged black woman in the US. If hard work guaranteed success, she’d be the most successful person on the planet. But she isn’t, yet she keeps on going.
Nothing. If I’m worried or upset or tormented, I go to sleep quickly and easily, to find welcome oblivion.
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