The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
With my late wife, Siân Busby, and our boys, Max and Simon, on assorted Welsh and English beaches, in sunshine and rain – especially when there was a Punch and Judy show on the prom.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 June 2018 source ↗
When I first heard one of our records on the radio.
When my children were small and used to play together, be creative, and were just in that innocent bubble.
The day my son was born.
Well, I’m happiest on Martha’s Vineyard, between July 1 and Labor Day, riding my tricycle with Larry Bobo every afternoon and fishing with Buddy Vanderhoop. But I was happiest from my childhood through high school in Piedmont, West Virginia; it was magical. I was sorry when it was time to go off to college.
Being completely still.
Being driven across the Atlas Mountains in a snowstorm 25 years ago, by a local taxi driver who plainly put a lower premium on the advantages of living than me.
As a dad who was OK.
Prime minister and brain surgeon.
A Savile Row suit. Never again. Although I love it, I still feel guilty about what it cost.
Cleaning the freezer room at Bejam as a Saturday job, aged 13.
Clare Balding, Jesse Jackson, Kirsty Young, Zack Polanski, Barbara Walters, Nancy Pelosi
Search the directory for somebody in particular.