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.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2008 source ↗
When I was about eight, by a river waiting for my dad to finish fishing, eating a Mars bar, drinking a can of Coke and listening to Beat It by Michael Jackson on my Walkman. I remember feeling I couldn’t be happier.
As a young child in the West Indies and having fun with my friends, playing sport and hanging about.
Technically, Ibiza 1990, because of the amount of ecstasy I’d taken.
Christmas Day in Nottingham. I am happiest when I am with all of my family, and last year Jonny and I got engaged.
I interrupt too much.
Working on my memoir because some memories were painful to revisit.
As you go through life, you discover so many forms of love – passionate, compassionate, familial, friendship. Love is hard to describe but it’s wonderful.
A cure for arthritis.
I saw a very expensive painting by a wonderful American painter called Charles Burchfield. I really loved it – it hit me in the solar plexus – and I thought if I did three extra concerts on tour, I might be able to afford it. And I did.
A botanist or a florist.
Isabelle Huppert, Julia Stiles, Samuel L Jackson, Brian Cox, Sofie Gråbøl, Pauline McLynn
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