Escaping an abusive teen marriage and being blessed with the opportunity to create a new life for myself and my two young children in London at the height of the swinging 60s.
When were you happiest?
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
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.
Camping with my parents in the south of France. We went every year with the beautiful bell tent they made on a sewing machine. We even had a lavatory tent which was fabulous except, one day, it blew away with my father in it.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 September 2019 source ↗
Others on this question
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Eve Myles
Welsh actress
When I had my gall bladder out last year; I had gall stones and was in agony for four years.
Jason Derulo
American singer and songwriter
When my son Jason King Derulo was born.
Bradley Wiggins
British former professional road and track racing cyclist
When my second child Bella was born in 2006. I missed my son Ben being born because I was racing, so seeing it for the first time was quite an experience.
More from Katharine Hamnett
View profile →Raising awareness of ethical and environmental issues in the clothing industry. I think I was the original whistleblower within fashion.
A hydrogen-powered private jet for me and my dog. We’d be zero carbon dioxide emissions, so could go anywhere we liked.
Hop-picking in Kent when I was 13. The smell was dreadful, and put me off beer for life.
To my parents, for being such a bitch.
Threat of nuclear war, Iran/US situation, Syria, everything. I take sleeping pills.
Boarding school. It was horrible.
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