Richard Coles: What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?

The question

What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?

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.

Richard Coles

British musician, writer, presenter and priest

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

“I could never love you like that.”

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Julian Lloyd Webber British cellist and conductor

When the surgeon told me I wouldn’t be able to play the cello again, in 2013. I have a herniated disc and it’s pressing on a nerve in my neck. I announced I was stopping playing in 2014. I absolutely did not want to stop.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2023 source ↗

Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer

“You look like a fat Jack Whitehall.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗

Fiona Allen

The second agent I had said: “The thing is, you look like something but then you open your mouth.” So I got myself a sketch show and left, and she lost out.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 August 2026 source ↗

Keir Starmer

There are yards and yards and yards of abuse every day. I ignore the lot of it.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2023 source ↗

More from Richard Coles

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Question As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? Identity & self

A great composer. I wrote to Benjamin Britten to tell him this and that he was my third favourite composer. For some reason he didn’t feel moved to reply.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗