failure
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.
One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
When I was appointed director of public prosecutions, I had a government car and visited the security services. When I came out, I got into the back of what I thought was my car, but it was somebody’s private car and they told me in no uncertain terms to get out. I had to reverse out with as much dignity as I could, with the head of security services watching.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2023 source ↗
The idiocy of going to Skye from New Zealand in April 2020. All of a sudden, I’m turning on the news and hearing myself as an item. I have never been more mortified.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 October 2023 source ↗
Shitting myself in New York last November. I was wearing cream trousers. We were going to see my son Matty and his band, the 1975, at Madison Square Garden, and I was walking through the streets, enjoying the sunshine, pretending I was in some kind of video – throwing my hat into the New York sky like Mary Tyler Moore. I saw a couple of people turn and look at me. Now, although I’m not famous in New York, whenever Matty’s there I do get recognised as his mum, so I’m smiling and waving at them. I went back to the hotel room and bent over to get something out of the suitcase, and my husband said: “Do you realise you’ve shat yourself?”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2023 source ↗
Years ago in a safari park in South Africa, and getting all dressed up for dinner. Walking across the lawn, I didn’t realise there was a swimming pool that hadn’t been lit and walked straight into the shallow end fully clothed. It still haunts me. I remember trying to get out as if no one would notice.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 September 2024 source ↗
When I was 16, my dad got drunk at the Oval cricket ground and harangued Sir Garry Sobers, possibly the greatest cricketer of all time, because he didn’t agree with who he’d given as man of the match.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2025 source ↗
Where do I begin?
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 February 2025 source ↗
The Radio 1 breakfast show was an embarrassing moment that lasted for nine months.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 August 2025 source ↗
An earthquake in Peru forced me and a young man into the street, where he had to introduce me to his family at three in the morning.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2025 source ↗
I’ve shat myself in public three times. It’s never quite as bad as you fear.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 October 2025 source ↗
I called Elizabeth McGovern Elizabeth Montgomery throughout a show. But, bless her, she didn’t say anything.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 April 2026 source ↗
I bumped into an old schoolteacher and her even more ancient and deaf sister, and she shouted to her, “Remember Esther? Now she writes books … ABOUT HERSELF.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗
Nobody has answered this one yet.