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Which moment embarrassed you most?

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.

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One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.

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Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Read by field Everyone Arts and letters 68 Politics and public life 4
Read by age Any age In their thirties 10 In their forties 13 In their fifties 26 In their sixties 11 Seventy and beyond 11
Róisín Murphy
I recently had a dramatic fall on stage in Hungary. It was a massive stage – I was miles away from the audience – and I didn’t expect there to be two monitors in the middle of it. I went completely arse over tit and landed on my chin. First, I felt shock, pain, embarrassment, and then I felt lucky that I didn’t break any teeth or bite through my tongue. I asked for an ice pack for my chin, got up and finished the set.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2023 source ↗

Lemn Sissay
Also my most triumphant: 2017 at the Royal Court. Julie Hesmondhalgh reads my psychologist’s report over two hours. Every excruciating intimate word of it. Extreme verbatim theatre. One night only.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Kate Humble
The very first day that I was filming Top Gear, for which I was so unqualified because I’d only ever driven a Fiat Uno. I got into a DB7 Vantage Volante outside the Aston Martin factory, put my foot on the accelerator and bunny-hopped across the gravel because I’d forgotten to take the handbrake off.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Monica Dolan
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.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗

Peter Sarsgaard
I was doing The Seagull with Carey Mulligan and Kristin Scott Thomas on Broadway. I walked out on stage and looked at Carey and said: “I’ve no idea what to say.” It was pretty deep into the run and it took me by surprise.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 February 2024 source ↗

Indira Varma
Wearing 90s ripped-at-the-crotch jeans at Rada during an unarmed combat session and showing everyone more than they bargained for.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2024 source ↗

Mark Bonnar
I did an interview years ago and, after it finished, I made some passing comment about sex getting better as you get older – and they used that as the headline. The day the paper came out, I was in a restaurant with the family when a woman on the table next to me leaned over and said, in a sultry voice, “I read your article this morning.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 April 2025 source ↗

Naga Munchetty
I was 17 and about to go on a first date with my first boyfriend. I was so desperate for my mum not to meet him that I was trying to get to the door before she did. I ran down the stairs as she opened it, and slid down the last five steps on my arse.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 July 2025 source ↗

Sarah Hadland
Years ago, I was trying to get with one of the big agencies and I cobbled together a VHS tape of me in adverts and sobbing in The Bill, and took it United Agents for the attention of Dallas Smith. A week later I went back and said, “Has she looked at the tape?” And they were, like, “Dallas is a he, no he hasn’t and he doesn’t want to,” and handed it back to me.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

Rory Stewart
Having somebody pull my judo trousers down at a competition when I was seven. And finding I wasn’t wearing any pants.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2026 source ↗

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