When I was in my 20s, I had an uncle who took his own life. I would like a second chance to say: “Hang in there.” My parents were living abroad, and me and my sister were just too young to notice the flags.
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
My father, with whom I had a complex relationship: often, when I was young, his desire to protect me clashed with the stubbornness of my choices.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 November 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 209 →
Kate Nash
British musician
Everyone I ever met in 2007, because I was definitely about two hours late.
Floella Benjamin
British actress, presenter, and peer
A boy called Norman. When I came to England, I didn’t know what kiss-chase was, and Norman kissed me on the lips, so I gave him a black eye.
Angela Griffin
British actress and television presenter
Lee Warburton. He had just left drama school and was doing the Alexander technique in the Corrie green room. I hadn’t been to drama school, and really took the piss out of him.
More from Andrea Bocelli
View profile →As a young man I had a car accident on a foggy night that left the vehicle looking like a squashed box, even though, by some miracle, I walked away unscathed.
As a man who tried to respect everyone, treating them with a smile and with due regard, despite the limitations of being human.
When each of my three children was born.
Lack of humility, the absence of goodness.
A singer. I wanted to live off music ever since I was a child – a wish that came true when I was over 35 years old.
Earthly life is merely the infancy of our soul. What comes after physical death is, I imagine, like returning home.
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