Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 April 2022 source ↗
Deplore is a heavy word. I don’t deplore it but I constantly feel the pull of my old Midwestern ways of eating. Boy, can I put some pancakes away.
Bad timekeeping.
Catastrophising.
I’m chronically late. It’s magical thinking: I actually believe I can take a shower and get dressed in three minutes, that the train will be pulling into the station the moment I arrive….
When I left drama school, I thought I was going to work at the Royal Court and tell stories about political injustice. I got cast in ITV murder mysteries.
Not feeling like you have to be anywhere else.
When I was about eight, by a river waiting for my dad to finish fishing, eating a Mars bar, drinking a can of Coke and listening to Beat It by Michael Jackson on my Walkman. I remember feeling I couldn’t be happier.
I’ve got vertigo, so anything to do with heights.
Romesh Ranganathan, Jack Whitehall, Julie Andrews, Pauline McLynn, Alison Steadman, Adrian Scarborough
Search the directory for somebody in particular.