Aidan Gillen
Irish actor
Foxes making love: it’s a very unsettling sound.
What keeps you awake at night?
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Perimenopausal anxiety, the terrible feeling of impending doom, something awful happening to my children, writing deadlines. Apart from that, I’m quite chilled.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 198 →
Cybill Shepherd
American actress and former model
Worrying about my children.
Michael Flatley
American step dancer
Rhythm patterns from my dance shows.
François Ozon
Film director and screenwriter
No, I’m a very bad father, I abandon all my children. (Laughs.) Right now I’m in the present, and the future – what’s past is past.
More from Dawn O’Porter
View profile →My Auntie Jane. She took me in, aged 10, and, after my mother died, healed my broken heart by filling our dining room with food and people. Still cooking at the grand old age of 89. My icon.
When I ruin someone else’s story because I think mine is better, so butt in before they’ve finished theirs.
Clothes moths (and the imminent threat of world war three).
When they ruin my story because they think theirs is better, so butt in before I’ve finished mine.
So far, getting older has made almost everything better.
The early days of motherhood. We lived in a sweet little bungalow in LA that had a pool. We threw lots of parties. We had a cute dog and a mad Siamese. Trump had never been president, we’d never heard of coronavirus, Claire’s Accessories was still going strong. Good times.
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