Tom Fletcher: Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

The question

Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

Originally asked

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

The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.

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

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A pair of Back to the Future shoes. They were auctioned off for Michael J Fox’s Parkinson’s charity, so I bid and I won. I am a huge fan of the films and if there was ever a pair of shoes I should own, it was those.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 November 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Midge Ure

A 28ft motorboat, which sat in the water for two years because I was so busy working.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2023 source ↗

Julie Andrews English actress, singer and author

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.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2019 source ↗

Monty Don English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer

A tractor, 12 years ago. Bright yellow and still brilliant.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 May 2018 source ↗

Emma Barnett British broadcaster and journalist

A wedding, in 2012.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 February 2021 source ↗