The question
What accomplishment matters most to you?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Picking myself back up after very tricky times and trying again.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 March 2026 source ↗
Being able to paint the way I do.
My body of work and maybe the fact that I got famous young and I am still here and never ended up in a jail cell.
My friendships.
Getting an A for my English A-level. I’m dyslexic; it was never detected and I was written off as scatty and lazy. This proved everyone wrong, including me.
I assumed that once I reached some level of achievement, I would feel fixed.
Eager to learn.
Superiority. I shrink when I’m around people who act superior, whether it’s due to authority or intellect. I almost become mute.
The more you face shame and stare it in the eyes and talk about it, the less potent it is.
An air steward, because I loved airports. I wrote a letter to British Airways when I was seven and I’ve got the reply in the loft, which says, “You’re a bit young at seven but do stay in touch.” I was that kind of kid who was eager to start the ball rolling.
Impatience. I’m not very good at waiting around or dealing with things that aren’t moving at a pace that I want them to.
Elaine Paige, Daphne Guinness, Salman Rushdie, Donny Osmond, Gloria Steinem, Victoria Pendleton
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