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.
When I was raising my children.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, May 2019 source ↗
When I am in Italy with the family, not thinking about work.
Leaving the hospital.
Happiness is like an elusive butterfly: whenever it comes my way, I grab it.
There was a moment in my early 20s when I’d finished Emmerdale and didn’t know what was next. I drove from LA to San Francisco listening to Tracy Chapman and it felt like one of those pure moments of uncomplicated joy.
My husband, Paul, who is an enabler of the exuberance of his wife and five kids.
Discrimination, for any reason.
The current occupant of the White House.
I’m not into self-deploring.
That I would have focused more on languages.
No contest: seeing my grandchildren enjoying each other.
Jerry Springer, Vince Cable, Edmund Hillary, Joan Bakewell, Anita Rani, Nick Robinson
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