Nicholas Parsons
English actor, straight man and presenter
If there was a miracle pill that helped you to feel physically the same as you are mentally.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Less time on my phone.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
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Bill Bailey
Comedian and musician
Slightly longer arms.
Edward Enninful
Ghanaian-born English editor and stylist
The ability to teleport. I’d be unstoppable.Would you rather have more sex, money or fame? More than those, I’d like more time.
Sam Shepard
American playwright and actor
Maybe Kate Moss.
More from Penny Lancaster
View profile →It was reading out loud, but no longer. (I am dyslexic.) I was encouraged by my husband to do a speech for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which helped me gain my confidence, and the fear disappeared.
Clearing up someone’s sick – it was on police duty.
An English teacher said, “You’ll never make anything of yourself.”
I’m a bit of a hoarder.
The children. As a mother you are constantly worrying whether you’ve done the right thing.
In a different sense, I’ve helped to try to resuscitate a dead man.
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- In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life? 21 answers
- What does the first sixty minutes of your day look like? 18 answers
Also answered this
Jimmy Akingbola, David Harewood, Zack Polanski, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Isla Fisher, Graydon Carter
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