The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
On holiday in Orlando with my wife, Kate, and kids just before lockdown. I wasn’t drinking or gambling. I was so happy, so at peace with myself – I’d been searching for that for many a year.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 January 2023 source ↗
The first time I played a complete song on the guitar. It was A Day In The Life, by the Beatles.
When I am performing, and when my kids make musical mayhem.
Driving solo across the country from New York to Washington State.
Now. Although I am on tour and I will be deliriously happy when that finishes, because I'll be back home.
When you jump out of addiction and look back, things like drink-driving and sitting in crack houses are not good.
Going back to addiction.
Nothing, because it’s up to me how I feel. I’ve been a millionaire three times and I still wanted to kill myself.
Thirty-odd years ago I bought a black pinstripe suit which I thought was £900. But when I went to pay that was just the jacket – the trousers and waistcoat were extra. I didn’t have the balls to put anything back. I dread to think how much it cost me in the end.
That materialistic things will not make you happy.
For me, love is working through things when it’s not going well.
Tom Daley, Steffi Graf, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ian Wright, Ally McCoist, Bradley Wiggins
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