Why is your nose so wonky?
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
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.
“You’re a wonderful musician but a terrible friend.” It was Daniel Barenboim, the famous conductor, because I didn’t have time in the calendar to work with him.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 November 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →They tend to say it behind my back.
I like you but I wish you looked more like David Beckham.
A radio presenter said I had yellow teeth – to my face. When I was 45, a manager in LA said I was too old to work in Hollywood; and then she rang my agent and said, “Can you tell your client never to wear that perfume again because it made me feel sick.”
More from Bryn Terfel
View profile →In 2006, I went fishing for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. On the way back, one of the engines caught fire and then we had one engine for 70 miles. Slowly but surely, we got to Baton Rouge in the darkness but then got very close to a very large passing ship – they didn’t see us and we didn’t see them.
I’ve been a strong advocate that all my five children should be great swimmers, so you can deduce what my fear is.
Absolutely nothing.
Unfriendliness.
One horrible afternoon in Chicago when I forgot my words in The Marriage of Figaro, in a role I’d sung hundreds of times.
I loved my 1 minute 40 seconds singing at the coronation of King Charles. I was the most nervous I’ve been.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 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? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this
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- All failure & regret questions
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