Barbara Taylor Bradford
British novelist
Not having my parents around to share my success.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Actors live in a constant state of disappointment. I’ll never be happy with what I’ve done.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 366 →
Rose Ayling-Ellis
British actress
I didn’t email my grandfather enough before he passed away.
Katherine Parkinson
English actor
Not getting into MI5.
Not going to the World Cup in 1986 and not going to the World Cup in 1998.
More from Pauline McLynn
View profile →A hairdresser – I still want to be a hairdresser.
I talk over people all the time.
Never be rigid in your thinking, be open.
Eight or nine years ago, I disgraced myself in the Japanese ambassador’s home in Dublin, at a celebration for my late mother-in-law’s book about living in Japan. Afterwards, when I had to apologise, she told me it was the worst night of her life and, because I was drunk enough not to remember the details, it will never not be the most embarrassing night of my life. People are filling in details even now – “Remember when you fell under the table during the first course?”
I hope the happiest moment is still ahead of me.
Not being able to breathe – I get very panicky at the thought.
More on failure & regret
- 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
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 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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Adeel Akhtar, Paul O'Grady, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nora Ephron, Ray Winstone, Michael Sheen
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