Zoë Heller
English journalist and novelist
Failing CSE Physics. Twice.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Without naming names, some people I’ve put a lot of faith and trust and love into.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 December 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 366 →
Philip Treacy
Irish-born haute couture milliner
My friends dying: Alexander (McQueen), Isabella (Blow), a friend of cancer last year.
Michael Sheen
Welsh actor
Welsh rugby since the 70s.
I didn’t get a part in a TV series for a writer that I’ve always wanted to work with, but I wasn’t right for it, if I’m truly honest.
More from Rebecca Ferguson
View profile →I changed my mind on airing my views. Sometimes silence is better.
I campaigned for a creative industry regulatory body, and that’s now happening in the next 18 months. It’s called CIISA [Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority]. I’m proud that I set the ball rolling and dared to challenge the establishment.
Antiques and art – I collect 17th‑century portraits.
The really terrible things that are happening in the Middle East made me cry for two days after 7 October. All those poor children on both sides.
My stepmother died a few years ago but I didn’t make that last hour to have a conversation with her, so I’d like to say sorry for that.
It’s that bad, I’d never repeat it. I’ll just say it was particularly cruel and incredibly racist. It was somebody that I used to date, at the end of the relationship, and it hurt very deeply.
More on failure & regret
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 69 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this
Mo Farah, Philip Glass, Alex Hassell, Dawn O'Porter, Adrian Dunbar, Patrick Stewart
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