Curious, energetic, droll.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this exact standing prompt.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Resourceful, resilient and compassionate.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 March 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 114 →Loving, creative, demanding.
Eager to learn.
Funny, impatient, annoying.
More from Chris Bonington
View profile →Becoming more physically active.
I was a huge daydreamer and imagined myself as a successful general leading his troops into battle.
I left the army and got a job with Unilever in Northern Ireland. They were very strict and you had to have a hat, and when you went into a shop you had to raise your hat to the shopkeeper and then sell your wares. I was selling margarine.
There are so many instances when I’ve come very close to death that it’s difficult to pick one.
When I was climbing I was absolutely happy. I can use a climbing wall, but that’s not the same as real climbing.
Compassion, resourcefulness and resilience form a rounded good person. So that’s what I’d like to leave my children and grandchildren.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Ally McCoist, Gregory Porter, Ali Abbasi, Richard Eyre, Adele Parks, Esther Freud
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