Tim Minchin: If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

The question

If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Tim Minchin

Australian musician, writer, actor and comedian

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I’d take back some dumb shit I said when I had no audience and found that being shocking made people laugh.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

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Oliver Sacks Neurologist and writer

The peace of the Sabbath, of a stopped world, a time outside time, was palpable, infused everything, and I found myself drenched with a wistfulness, something akin to nostalgia, wondering what if: What if A and B and C had been different? What sort of person might I have been? What sort of a life might I have lived?

Recorded The New York Times, Sunday Review, 14 August 2015 source ↗

Hugh Skinner

I’d be happier being myself younger.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2026 source ↗

Helen George English actress

Going through a divorce.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 January 2023 source ↗

Rupert Graves English actor

I’d edit out all my gauche incomprehension.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 January 2015 source ↗

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

Maybe when my wife Sarah and I were walking back to our hotel in Covent Garden, London, through the snow after the Olivier awards when Matilda won all the stuff. Hold on, I’m meant to say the birth of my children, aren’t I?

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

Question How would you describe what love feels like to you? Relationships

Anxiety, mostly, once you have kids.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Maybe if we all admire her hard enough, she’ll live beyond this incredibly disturbing era.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2020 source ↗

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