Andrew O’Hagan: What has been your biggest disappointment? — FLAPSS

The question

What has been your biggest disappointment?

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

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

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Andrew O’Hagan

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

The internet. Such potential for good and for levelling up the world, but such a quagmire in reality.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Ted Danson American actor

That I could not play college basketball due to lack of talent.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 April 2010 source ↗

Eve Ensler American playwright, performer, feminist, and activist

That most men have not yet come to understand the impact and the devastating consequences of violence against women.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 June 2019 source ↗

Isabella Rossellini Italian and American actress

That my children never met my parents. They were both dead by the time I became a mamma.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 December 2012 source ↗

Christy Turlington Burns American model

My father’s death before my marriage and motherhood.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 May 2017 source ↗

More from Andrew O’Hagan

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Question What did you want to be when you were growing up? Identity & self

Most days, I wanted to be Albrecht in the classical ballet Giselle, dancing until I dropped dead.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question What does love feel like? Relationships

Like getting out of the right side of the bed every morning, even when you don’t.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question What is your greatest fear? Identity & self

I can’t say it.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question What would you like to be remembered for? Death & what remains

As a good friend.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question When was the last time you changed your mind about something? Change of mind

The other day, when I decided that maybe I had been too harsh on mid-period Sting.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Question Which moment embarrassed you most? Failure & regret

My first holy communion, where my trousers were too big for me and fell down, a circumstance which earned me both the instant contempt of the girls and the heightened interest of the priests. That’s just how it was in 1975.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

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