Joshua Ferris: When were you happiest?

When were you happiest?

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.

Recorded Joshua Ferris said elsewhere, not written here

Whenever it was, I didn't realise it fully.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 January 2011 source ↗

Others on this question

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Graydon Carter

My first week in New York in 1978, when I was about to start as a writer at Time. And my first week in the south of France after retiring from my job of 25 years as editor of Vanity Fair.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗

Sara Cox English broadcaster

Getting a daily show on Radio 2, because that was an ambition for so long.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 August 2019 source ↗

Ardal O'Hanlon Irish comedian and actor

I have become progressively happier as I’ve got older. It’s to do with not striving as much.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 June 2022 source ↗

Tina Brown British and American journalist

In my second year at Oxford University. There was much lolling over the side of punts on the river with languid male companions plying me with cheap champagne.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 May 2010 source ↗