Paul Merson
English footballer and pundit
That materialistic things will not make you happy.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
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.
Talk to people. Learn from them. And put your phone away.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 May 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 137 →
Rose Ayling-Ellis
British actress
You have to ride the wave and never wait for it to be calm, because it never will be.
Jo Nesbø
Norwegian writer and musician
The world doesn’t consist of bad and good people; it consists of people seeing things in a different way.
Edward Enninful
Ghanaian-born English editor and stylist
That there is no ideal life. Disappointments sit around every corner, so enjoy the here and now.
More from Eleanor Tomlinson
View profile →Losing out on a role, any role. I get so invested. I can take rejection, but only when useful feedback is given.
Endless acting jobs.
Relief and an achy feeling in your cheeks from smiling.
I wanted to be a vet, and then realised it’s only really dogs that I adore, and if someone had a poorly mouse, I would be the one needing medical assistance.
A horse-riding accident when I was about 15.
Narcissism. And people coughing on me in public.
More on time & hindsight
- When were you happiest? 577 answers
- What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore? 78 answers
- What scares you about getting older? 61 answers
- What is the best advice you have ever received? 28 answers
- If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say and why? 24 answers
- What is something you were told by a parent, teacher, or mentor that you still repeat to yourself? 23 answers
Also answered this
Daryl McCormack, John Waters, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jane Asher, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Michael Flatley
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All time & hindsight questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject