Which moment embarrassed you most?

Originally asked

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

A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.

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

Recorded Seann Walsh said elsewhere, not written here
At school, I got my head stuck in a balustrade on the stairs at lunchtime. I had pupils laughing at me, parents laughing at me, teachers laughing at me and eventually, at the end of the day, the fire brigade laughing at me.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 January 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Shakin' Stevens Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter
I was in the musical Elvis, and after a costume change I went below stage to be raised up on a platform. As I was raised up, I blanked and couldn’t remember the first line of the song King Creole. I mumbled the first few lines and hoped nobody would notice.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 February 2023 source ↗
In the 1950s I went to the Chelsea Arts Club’s New Year’s Eve ball at the Royal Albert Hall dressed as a Christmas pudding, with swimming trunks under my costume and holly in my hair.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 June 2026 source ↗
I once walked up to Harriet Walter while she was having lunch on her own because I thought I knew her, and then when I got up to the table I realised I didn’t know her, I just recognised her because she was Harriet Walter.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗
It was a small gig and I was doing Three Minute Hero, which has a long, held note at the end, and I fell off the stage.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 April 2025 source ↗

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