Esther Freud: What has been your biggest disappointment?

What has been your biggest disappointment?

Originally asked

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

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

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Esther Freud said elsewhere, not written here

Not joining the circus.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Toyah Willcox English singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter

The world doesn’t reward talent, it mostly rewards those who are connected.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2019 source ↗

Kevin Rowland British singer

My brother Pete passing on in 2005.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 August 2025 source ↗

Adrian Edmondson English actor, comedian, musician and writer

Not doing Top Of The Pops when The Young Ones’ single went to number one.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Bryan Cranston American actor

That I couldn’t bridge the gap with my parents before they died. My mother died 10 years ago of Alzheimer’s, and my father died two years ago. He left when I was 11 and we got back in touch when I was 22.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 October 2016 source ↗