Andrea Martin: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

The question

Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Andrea Martin

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

The sewing-machine repairman at the corner of 107th and Broadway.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2017 source ↗

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Place 107th and Broadway

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Judy Murray Scottish tennis coach

Billie Jean King. She’s the reason tennis is such an equal sport in terms of opportunity for women.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 December 2020 source ↗

Julia Stiles American actress

People I went to school with who have careers as doctors and teachers.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2015 source ↗

Harry Hill English comedian

The artist Magda Archer [his wife].

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 November 2011 source ↗

Olly Alexander English singer and actor

Jill Nalder. Lydia West played her character in It’s a Sin. She was on the wards with nurses caring for patients who were dying [of Aids] when lots of people wouldn’t go near them.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 March 2025 source ↗

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Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

That I’ll die worrying.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2017 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

Standing up while eating.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2017 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto: 8:31 A.M., July 1, 1981; 8:29 A.M., May 4, 1983.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2017 source ↗

Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

Listening to my sons play a piano-and-sax duet.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 24 April 2017 source ↗

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

Their goddamned fucking honesty.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2017 source ↗

Question Which quality in your friends matters most to you? Relationships

They take my calls.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 24 April 2017 source ↗

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