Empathetic, humble and strong.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this exact standing prompt.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Unimpeachable, nonpareil, self‑effacing.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 January 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 114 →Content, assured, indecisive.
Enthusiastic, chaotic, bungling.
Hard-working, creative, irreverent.
More from Roger McGough
View profile →A picnic on the beach at Seaforth during the war. Somehow I managed to wriggle through a barbed-wire fence and run across a minefield. My teenage aunt Kat bravely followed suit and rescued me.
I’m embarrassed when I get people’s names wrong.
A lady came up to me in Tesco last year and said, “Excuse me, but didn’t you used to be Roger McGough?”
That it will go on quite happily without me.
Losing track (see above).
I had dreams of becoming the first scouse pope. Unfortunately, the girls got to me first.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Niamh Cusack, Sharleen Spiteri, Indira Varma, Russell Mael, Kelly Hoppen, Ciarán Hinds
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