Graydon Carter: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

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.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My first week in New York in 1978, when I was about to start as a writer at Time. And my first week in the south of France after retiring from my job of 25 years as editor of Vanity Fair.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 577 →

Sally Phillips British actress

At the birth of each of my children. Drugs were involved.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 June 2012 source ↗

Paul Weller English singer-songwriter and musician

I'm nearly always happy.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 June 2014 source ↗

Nicola Walker British actress

As I get older, I get happier.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 January 2017 source ↗

Sadie Frost English actress, producer, film director and fashion designer

When there’s a big Sunday lunch and all my children are there.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 September 2015 source ↗

More from Graydon Carter

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Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

Be generous and kind. Honestly, those two things did everything for me.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗

Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

Getting into a tense argument with Russell Crowe during one of the Vanity Fair Oscar parties.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

It will be the one or two or three senior Republican leaders who take a public and forceful stand against the ugly lunacy of the Trump administration.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗