Kate Humble: What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? — FLAPSS

The question

What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you?

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.

KH

Kate Humble

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

“We’d love you to be on the cover of our magazine and we’ll give you a makeover.”

The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 122 →

“I would love to go on a date with you, but I’d be too embarrassed.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 source ↗

Andrew O’Hagan

Somebody once told me I was the spitting image of David Cameron.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Olly Alexander English singer and actor

It’s the stuff about my appearance that sticks. I read I had a face like a crumpled napkin and teeth that could till a field.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 March 2025 source ↗

Felicity Jones British actress

“You’re a reasonably intelligent girl,” by a teacher, and it drove me crazy and made me want to get into Oxford.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 May 2023 source ↗

More from Kate Humble

View profile →

Question How would you sum yourself up in three words? Identity & self

Scruffy, infuriating and kind.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Question What worries you about getting older? Time & hindsight

Not feeling old but everyone treating you that way.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Question What do you believe happens when we die? Death & what remains

The worms get to feast.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

The first time I stood on top of the hill that I now live on, in 2007.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

People having really loud conversations on their phones in public places.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

Question As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? Identity & self

I wanted to be in the circus.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Cybill Shepherd, Lee Child, Siobhán McSweeney, Nuala McGovern, Kevin Rowland, Richard Eyre

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

Report this answer