Alex Hassell: What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

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.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Not playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. I am a huge Brando fan and a big Tennessee Williams fan and it’s a part I would love to have a go at. It’s possible I still could but I’m too old, really.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 May 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Jane Asher English actress and author

Fine dining when it goes wrong.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2023 source ↗

Elisabeth Moss American actor

I don't dwell on disappointments.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 March 2012 source ↗

Monty Don English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer

At the time, losing our business, home and all our possessions in 1991 after the failure of our jewellery company. But if that had not happened then other good things would not have happened, either.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 May 2018 source ↗

Grace Coddington Welsh former model and creative director