The question
Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Dawn French, because I am sitting next to her and she says if I don’t say her, she will hurt me.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 October 2018 source ↗
Peter Hitchens: he ploughs the lonely furrow.
I love and admire Julia Roberts, one of our Running Wild guests, for the way she has a few close friends, is loyal to her family, doesn’t believe in all the fame stuff and can laugh at herself.
My sister Arlene, who is 75 and on marriage number seven. I admire her hopefulness.
Aside from my mom, my husband, and my mother-in-law, Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and RBG.
Listening to the last 10 minutes of the podcast S-Town. It is one of my favourite reminders of what life is truly all about.
I would like the poem Cherish by Raymond Carver. It was read by my dad at my wedding, and is my absolute favourite.
A cellist, inspired by my mum and dad’s friendship with Jacqueline du Pré, and seeing a documentary about her.
I’ve been to two postmortems in real life, and spent the last 14 years talking about death at work – so, pretty close.
A birthday present I hoped would mean a lot to the person. I had their family history researched and a book made.
Any writer who thinks I’ve ruined their work in performance.
Martin Kemp, Anne-Marie Duff, Maxine Peake, Patricia Hodge, Lily Tomlin, Omid Djalili
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