Very silly boy.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this exact standing prompt.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Chaotic, warm, northern.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 January 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 112 →Confident, stressed, greedy.
Fairly decent bloke.
Nurturing, musical, uncompromising.
More from Helen Skelton
View profile →More sleep – my children do not sleep.
Good memories. When I’m gone, I want them to feel that they were always my No 1 priority.
As someone who made you think that anything’s possible. I did three marathons in a day once but walking the high-wire at Battersea Park station was the challenge I loved most because I had to master a skill.
To Gorka Márquez, who was my Strictly partner, for not winning the glitterball in 2022.
My new year resolution is actually to read all the classics and I’m ashamed that I haven’t read everything by the Brontë sisters.
That you get out of life what you put in. When you grow up on a farm you literally reap what you sow.
More on identity & self
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Alex Lawther, Jon Snow, PP Arnold, Chris Bonington, Jack Dee, Chris McCausland
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