Paterson Joseph
British actor and author
A private detective.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Death & what remains
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
A ballet dancer, but it changed to being an actress when I got put in a school play.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 September 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 195 →
Dan Stevens
English actor
Jobs that I saw on television, until I realised they were all played by actors – then I wanted to be an actor.
Katherine Parkinson
English actor
An astronaut. I still do.
Steve Pemberton
British actor and comedian
What I am now, but with a better singing voice.
More from Patricia Hodge
View profile →Two days ago, at a family wedding, remembering Richard, my cousin. He was 11 months younger than me and we were brought up like brother and sister for the first four years of our lives. He died of a brain tumour when he was 55.
The Queen. Her like has not been seen before and I doubt it will ever be again.
Not applying myself enough at school.
In the minutes, hours, days and weeks after having my children. I was 42 and 45. There’s nothing like new life.
One of my favourite songs is Being Alive, from Company by Stephen Sondheim, but it would hardly be appropriate.
Not having four children.
More on identity & self
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Sue Perkins, Martin Kemp, Charlotte Church, Fay Ripley, Dan Stevens, Katherine Parkinson
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