To my mother for disappointing her. Mummy wanted me to be a different sort of person from who I am, but one can’t change oneself.
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A fixed Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Some of my old teachers for disrupting lessons. I was the class clown.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 November 2021 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 209 →
Rylan Clark-Neal
English media personality
To the British public for my time on X Factor.
My closest friend at uni – I sometimes retreat from life in quite an extreme way, without word. Back then, I didn’t really understand what I was doing.
Robert Carlyle
Scottish actor
To John, a really close friend who died last year. I'd love to see him one more time and say, 'Look, I'm sorry I wasn't around enough during your life.'
More from Mo Gilligan
View profile →Not investing in bitcoin.
I don’t think I would change anything because it might not have got me here.
Handing out leaflets for a dry cleaner’s, because no one wanted them and, if people did take them, they just threw them on the floor.
Material. I wake up in the middle of the night and write jokes.
I always relate love to happiness.
Getting a house. I didn’t think that was a possibility for me. I’ve been able to do amazing things – Netflix, tours, winning a Bafta – but having something you own is hard, so that’s really up there.
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 366 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- 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? 69 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 36 answers
Also answered this
Clara Amfo, Esther Freud, Lemn Sissay, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Keren Woodward, Rosalind Eleazar
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All failure & regret questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject