HW
When I got to 40 and realised I hadn’t read all the books I needed to read to understand the world.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2017 source ↗
The question
What disappointment has stayed with you longest?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.
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Others on this question
View all 367 →Not keeping off the last 5lbs.
Viggo Mortensen
American actor
That Barack Obama seems to be more concerned with becoming re-elected than with doing his very best to fulfil the promise of his candidacy.
Donald Sutherland
Canadian actor
The behaviour of those dogs.
Meg Rosoff
American novelist
Not being born a boy.
More from Harriet Walter
View profile →I would never have gone on a diet. I would go back with the knowledge that not being perfect is fine.
Everything. I’ve one of those brains that doesn’t quieten down.
In some way your life is doubled. You’re you and the other person.
My mother, because I didn’t appreciate until after she’d gone that she was a vulnerable human being. I just expected her to know everything and be everything.
I went to a funeral where they played Cheek To Cheek: Fred Astaire singing “Heaven. I’m in heaven… ” Everyone smiled. I’d like that.
An actor. When I was really young, I wanted to be a fishmonger’s wife.
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