Not getting to the point.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
Change of mind
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
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 The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Obsequiousness.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 May 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 252 →I am a bit of a procrastinator.
David Hare
Playwright and screenwriter
I don’t think I am either as ruthlessly selfish as I was then, but I think that unhappiness made me terribly terribly selfish.
My Sicilian impulsiveness.
More from Alex Hassell
View profile →As someone with integrity.
Not playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. I am a huge Brando fan and a big Tennessee Williams fan and it’s a part I would love to have a go at. It’s possible I still could but I’m too old, really.
On Monday in therapy.
Driven, sensitive and playful.
My brother Joe, he’s nine years older than me.
To keep trying to listen to yourself.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Allison Janney, Leona Lewis, Erin Doherty, Henry Winkler, David Chang, Craig Charles
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