The question
Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I feel almost certain I don't know them. It would be one of these types who dedicate their lives to the welfare of others, whereas the people I tend to know are people making stories out of the dramas of themselves.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, November 2016 source ↗
None. Unfortunately, we are in an age of antiheroes.
I love and admire Julia Roberts, one of our Running Wild guests, for the way she has a few close friends, is loyal to her family, doesn’t believe in all the fame stuff and can laugh at herself.
My dad. It's only now that I realise the huge sacrifices that he made to give us a good upbringing.
Bruce Forsyth, because not only is he the most talented showman, he is the most generous individual.
Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
Reading quietly, in high grass, among loved ones (who are also quietly reading). Followed by a boozy lunch.
Narcissism, solipsism.
Don’t romanticise your “vocation”. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no “writer’s lifestyle”. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
Oblivious to the event or on the brink of a genuine religious conversion.
Violent death. Death generally.
Ethan Hawke, Hayley Squires, Anne Enright, Judith Kerr, Meera Syal, Maggie O'Farrell
Search the directory for somebody in particular.