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.
In 1993, making love on the beach of a deserted island in the Bahamas.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 June 2025 source ↗
Wherever I’m sitting, once I finish this questionnaire.
This has been a really good year so far.
I’ve had a lot of happiness in my life: 1) the birth of my children; 2) getting into Lamda when I was 17; 3) meeting my wife; 4) and the renewal of our marriage vows and my 60th birthday.
When my son was about three years old and I was working at the National Theatre. I remember cycling from Twickenham, and thinking, “This is the golden age: I’ll never be happier or more content than this.”
The exact median middle-aged black woman in the US. If hard work guaranteed success, she’d be the most successful person on the planet. But she isn’t, yet she keeps on going.
I’m from Birmingham. I’m not afraid of things. Things are afraid of me.
“Try this, you’ll love it.”
Nothing. If I’m worried or upset or tormented, I go to sleep quickly and easily, to find welcome oblivion.
A painting by Renoir, paid for by demanding a huge fee for a screenwriting deal with a producer I didn’t want to work for. The movie was never made.
Appearing on US breakfast radio. I heard the DJ say that after the news we would hear from the author Lincoln Child. I had to choose between making a guy with a mixed-up PR release look like an idiot or pretending to be Lincoln. I pretended.
Shirley Hughes, Bill Bryson, Doris Day, David Schwimmer, Sofia Coppola, Victoria Derbyshire
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