The question
If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I would become fitter younger. Because I would have been hotter younger!
The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2026 source ↗
Absolutely nothing.
The public mistakes I’ve made. Most recently, I tried to light an e-cigarette on an aeroplane and was told to put it out. I completely forgot I was on a plane. I’d had, like, three drinks, but it only takes three. I stopped as soon as I got off and I got straight back into my programme, because that’s what I do.
I was a very lazy child, but I think I’ve made up for it by being a workaholic. I might push some of the work back to my childhood.
My mother and my brother would still be alive. So much of my life has been coping with the grief of losing them.
How much my son loves me, particularly considering I’ve had a huge career.
Enthusiastic, resilient, empathetic.
I’ve never read any Salman Rushdie.
A sushi chef in my kitchen.
A mix – safety to be yourself, acceptance, a feeling of peace and reliance, but also challenge, whether that’s intellectual or emotional.
Speaking negatively to myself.
Greg James, Adam Lambert, Carlos Acosta, Chris Bonington, Michelle Dockery, Kelsey Grammer
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