Holding the hand of some random lady at an airport who I mistook for my wife, Shara.
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
When I concentrate, I put my thumb in my mouth. I once did it during a really important meeting when asked a question I didn’t know the answer to. When I left the meeting my friend said: “What did you put your thumb in your mouth for?” I didn’t know I’d done it.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 124 →I once walked up to Harriet Walter while she was having lunch on her own because I thought I knew her, and then when I got up to the table I realised I didn’t know her, I just recognised her because she was Harriet Walter.
Kellie Maloney
Retired boxing manager, promoter and politician
In my early days of transitioning, I used to come to London and meet for a drink with a group going through the same thing. I used to wear a full wig, and one night I’d drunk too much and fell asleep on the train, and my wig slipped off.
That time I congratulated a waitress on being pregnant.
More from Adele Parks
View profile →I would become fitter younger. Because I would have been hotter younger!
A mix – safety to be yourself, acceptance, a feeling of peace and reliance, but also challenge, whether that’s intellectual or emotional.
When I was in my 20s, I had an uncle who took his own life. I would like a second chance to say: “Hang in there.” My parents were living abroad, and me and my sister were just too young to notice the flags.
I’ve never read any Salman Rushdie.
A sushi chef in my kitchen.
Enthusiastic, resilient, empathetic.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 372 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 207 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 125 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 79 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 40 answers
Also answered this
Andrew O’Hagan, Fay Ripley, Omid Djalili, Eleanor Tomlinson, Julian Lloyd Webber, Chiwetel Ejiofor
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