If you’re a mother, you are embarrassing. Is that not just the way?
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
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.
I once walked up to Harriet Walter while she was having lunch on her own because I thought I knew her, and then when I got up to the table I realised I didn’t know her, I just recognised her because she was Harriet Walter.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →On radio, I once said “anal” instead of “angel”.
Eleanor Tomlinson
English actress
I’ve never seen Star Wars (I know!) and on my first day of a recent job, I’m sitting next to this very friendly actor. I ask if he has much experience with motion capture. He says, “Yes.” I say “Oh great! What have you worked on?” He says, “I’m Mark Hamill.”
Falling flat on my face in Billy Elliot on Boxing Day when I was 14. I fell smack bang at the end of my number. I was mortified.
More from Monica Dolan
View profile →To believe my eyes and not my ears.
Another actress once said to me, “I’ve told you huge lies to make you feel good about yourself.” I’m not going to say who.
My friend Fritha Goodey wouldn’t have committed suicide.
Not marrying the person I wanted to marry, but now I think it’s probably good that I didn’t.
I try too hard not to get things wrong.
Any unread book a friend bought me.
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
Also answered this
Edmund Hillary, Tom Allen, Richard Eyre, Edward Enninful, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Kerry Godliman
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- All failure & regret questions
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