Richard Coles: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

Originally asked

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

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

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

Richard Coles

British musician, writer, presenter and priest

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Technically, Ibiza 1990, because of the amount of ecstasy I’d taken.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Jenna Coleman English actress

There was a moment in my early 20s when I’d finished Emmerdale and didn’t know what was next. I drove from LA to San Francisco listening to Tracy Chapman and it felt like one of those pure moments of uncomplicated joy.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 February 2019 source ↗

Benedict Cumberbatch English actor

With the sun on my face and a beer in my hand, the morning after I had been in a car-jacking in South Africa.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2012 source ↗

Yoko Ono Japanese artist and activist

When the war was over—whichever war that was.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 1995 source ↗

Gavin Rossdale British musician

Last year, when I had all four kids – Daisy, Kingston, Zuma and Apollo – staying with me on my birthday. It was magical.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2020 source ↗

More from Richard Coles

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Question If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

My financial incompetence.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

Don’t overcook pasta.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗

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

A great composer. I wrote to Benjamin Britten to tell him this and that he was my third favourite composer. For some reason he didn’t feel moved to reply.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2023 source ↗