Fran Healy
Scottish musician
Nothing. I sleep like a log.
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Did I behave in the right way?
The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 196 →The fact that I might wake up early.
Anna Paquin
New Zealand actress
My children, because they come with me wherever I go.
Katharine Hamnett
English fashion designer
Threat of nuclear war, Iran/US situation, Syria, everything. I take sleeping pills.
More from Esther Freud
View profile →Talking about the hardships of my mother’s life – she would not approve.
For the words to fly from my fingers as just occasionally they do.
Life’s too short to take offence.
I bumped into an old schoolteacher and her even more ancient and deaf sister, and she shouted to her, “Remember Esther? Now she writes books … ABOUT HERSELF.”
My parents died within four days of each other. I was engulfed as I ran from one bedside to another.
We watch over those we love.
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