Rose Ayling-Ellis
British actress
Rapping the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme on national television.
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
My first holy communion, where my trousers were too big for me and fell down, a circumstance which earned me both the instant contempt of the girls and the heightened interest of the priests. That’s just how it was in 1975.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →I bumped into an old schoolteacher and her even more ancient and deaf sister, and she shouted to her, “Remember Esther? Now she writes books … ABOUT HERSELF.”
Richard Coles
British musician, writer, presenter and priest
My paso doble on Strictly Come Dancing would be hard to beat.
Falling off the stage and on to the pianist during the opening number in the Mother Goose pantomime at the Citizens theatre in Glasgow.
More from Andrew O’Hagan
View profile →Making people smaller than they are because of something they can’t handle in themselves.
The other day, when I decided that maybe I had been too harsh on mid-period Sting.
Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.
I can’t say it.
Just. Hanging. On.
Somebody once told me I was the spitting image of David Cameron.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- 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
- 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
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Paul Merson, Rosie Jones, Bryan Adams, Helen Skelton, Tamsin Greig, Naga Munchetty
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