Richard Hawley: When were you happiest?

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.

Recorded Richard Hawley said elsewhere, not written here

I've often reached the dizzying heights of ecstasy holding a pint of frothy seasonal ale in Fagan's pub, chatting away with Tom the landlord.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 February 2011 source ↗

Others on this question

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Aidan Gillen Irish actor

I won a local art competition aged 10 – the first time I’d won anything.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2017 source ↗

Keren Woodward

The last few years. There’s a beauty to getting to an age where you really don’t care about stuff that used to bother you.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 March 2024 source ↗

Audra McDonald Singer and actor

In the hospital giving birth to my second daughter with my first daughter right there in the room as it was happening. I don’t remember any pain. I just remember feeling more alive and full of fierce mama bear love than at any other point in my life.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2023 source ↗

Julie Walters British actress