Tim Rice
English lyricist and author
I would definitely change the way one or two relationships ended.
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
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What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’d have stuck with the original Dexys Midnight Runners look we started in 1978, which became known as the New Romantic look a couple of years later. Our management and record label talked us out of it. Later, Duran Duran and Spandau came out with that look and that made us look old-fashioned.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 August 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 203 →
Jack Whitehall
English comedian, actor, presenter and writer
All of my hairstyles from the age of 16 to 25.
Adam Lambert
American singer
I would try to work on being able to trust people more easily.
John Simpson
English journalist
I would have behaved better to my first wife, and the girl I lived with afterwards. I was always away.
More from Kevin Rowland
View profile →Gerry Adams, because he’s got incredible integrity and vision, and he’s had to put up with so much flak.
Insanity. I am on a recovery programme – clean from drugs and drink for many years – and if I stopped doing all that stuff I’d go crazy pretty quick and pick up drugs again, because I was a real fucking addict.
On stage – the Old Vic in 1981 and Glastonbury last year.
The contentment I have now.
I worked in the stores of Edgware hospital when I was about 17, and it was grey and depressing.
My brother Pete passing on in 2005.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
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- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- Which moment embarrassed you most? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 63 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
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