Toyah Willcox: What disappointment has stayed with you longest? — FLAPSS

The question

What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

Originally asked

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

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

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

TW

Toyah Willcox

English singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

The world doesn’t reward talent, it mostly rewards those who are connected.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 367 →

Tim Robbins American actor

Not pitching a perfect game in baseball to win the World Series.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 October 2010 source ↗

The main courses are never as tasty as starters. But enough about my sex life.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 source ↗

Billy Porter American actor and singer

The rejection that I have received from my own people.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 January 2021 source ↗

Lolita Chakrabarti British actress and writer

That my first play, Red Velvet, took so many years to be done. It took me seven years to write and then five years to get to the stage.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 May 2022 source ↗

More from Toyah Willcox

View profile →

Question What one change would most improve the quality of your daily life? Daily life

Everyone comes to me for advice, and I wish they didn’t. I negotiate fees for other artists, give advice on property, on food, on clothes, on pensions. I can be standing on a corner in another country and someone will approach me for help.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Question What accomplishment matters most to you? Craft & work

Staying sane in a career path that tries endlessly to unnerve you.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

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

A man. I have always fought against being gender specific. I just don’t like being identified as female: I’m a person.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

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

Between 2007 and 2016, I had a large white rabbit called WillyFred. I was happiest pressing my ear to his fur and hearing his heart beat.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

For winning that elusive Oscar.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Dominic West, Hilary Swank, Kathleen Turner, Donald Sutherland, Paul Giamatti, Gemma Whelan

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

All failure & regret questions
The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject

Report this answer