The question
When were you most embarrassed?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
That time I congratulated a waitress on being pregnant.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗
The very first day that I was filming Top Gear, for which I was so unqualified because I’d only ever driven a Fiat Uno. I got into a DB7 Vantage Volante outside the Aston Martin factory, put my foot on the accelerator and bunny-hopped across the gravel because I’d forgotten to take the handbrake off.
In order to raise money to pay for myself to go to the National Youth Theatre, I performed a medley of my drama school speeches and some songs for my entire school. Considering I can’t sing, this was terrible. I did U Remind Me by Usher and Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T’s. They paid £2 each – basically, to laugh at me.
At the Mighty Hoopla festival, Kimberley and Nicola from Girls Aloud joined me on stage for a Girls Aloud song. I completely forgot the words.
I called Elizabeth McGovern Elizabeth Montgomery throughout a show. But, bless her, she didn’t say anything.
Content. Cheerful. Appreciative.
Getting into a tense argument with Russell Crowe during one of the Vanity Fair Oscar parties.
That I didn’t go to Turkey during the pandemic for one of those male hair treatments.
My children’s education.
“Didn’t you used to be Graydon Carter?”
Be generous and kind. Honestly, those two things did everything for me.
Shaznay Lewis, Sofia Coppola, Alex Hassell, Neil Gaiman, Rita Wilson, Clive Myrie
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