I’m not into self-deploring.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Which book are you ashamed not to have read?
Taste & recommendation
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I can be horribly smug and conceited, and yet always in the back of my mind is the thought that things could go terribly wrong at any moment.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 October 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →I lose bank cards, I’m untidy, I get bored very quickly.
Danielle Steel
Novelist
Not always standing up for myself enough.
Maya Jama
British television and radio presenter
I can be properly stubborn sometimes – but that’s me being a classic Leo.
More from Charlie Higson
View profile →I’ve shat myself in public three times. It’s never quite as bad as you fear.
All the kids I didn’t reply to who’ve written lovely letters about my books.
Aggression. Anger. Rudeness. Intolerance. Lack of understanding. Pretty much your average day on X.
Middle-class wanker.
Three mature palm trees. We restored a property in Italy that had been derelict and I needed to make it look established as quickly as I could.
I used to give a fantastic talk about Frankenstein and Dracula, but I’ve never been able to finish either book.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Judith Light, Matthew Modine, Diahann Carroll, Edward Enninful, Lena Dunham, Frank Cottrell-Boyce
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