Bill Bryson: If you could edit your past, what would you change?

If you could edit your past, what would you change?

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.

Recorded Bill Bryson said elsewhere, not written here

Nothing. It’s too risky. What if you eliminated a misjudged situation from your life and it turned out that one of your children wasn’t born, or you failed to meet your partner?

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 February 2016 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 207 →

Patricia Hodge English actress

Not applying myself enough at school.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 September 2018 source ↗

Adwoa Aboah British fashion model

Nothing. Everything’s got me to this point and I had to learn lots of things. Maybe I just wouldn’t have been so terrified all the time and I would have got up a bit earlier – I missed quite a few mornings.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 March 2019 source ↗

Mandy Patinkin American actor and singer

I would have been a better listener. I would have pursued more friendships instead of focusing so much on work and myself. I’m doing all that now, but I’m running out of time.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2019 source ↗

Laura Kenny English cyclist

I would have spent every single day with my sister before she left to live in New Zealand. At my wedding, it was the first time I had seen her in two and a half years.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 January 2017 source ↗