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.
Before kids, when I was 13 or so, on the back of my horse, running at full speed in an open pasture. Post kids, happiness happens often, but in more subtle ways. I now prefer the word “content”.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 May 2017 source ↗
When the book of my enemy was discounted.
When I got my dogs, Charlie and Ziggy Stardust. One is a pomeranian mix and the other is a rescue mutt, and, oh my God, he's so cute.
Maybe when my wife Sarah and I were walking back to our hotel in Covent Garden, London, through the snow after the Olivier awards when Matilda won all the stuff. Hold on, I’m meant to say the birth of my children, aren’t I?
My first payday as a professional actor, knowing this was the beginning of the rest of my life, and the day my daughter told me I wasn’t the worst dad in the world.
The fact that at least 300,000 women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth-related issues that are largely preventable.
I might speed up a few details, but wouldn’t change anything, other than my dad still being here.
As someone who didn’t waste a minute.
A midwife named Jennie Joseph. She is a tireless activist for women, family health and equal access to quality maternity care.
My father’s death before my marriage and motherhood.
To strangers. Living in New York, I see individuals every day who are invisible to so many. I want to say sorry that so many of us think their pain and suffering is not our own.
Rose Tremain, Ben Kingsley, Floella Benjamin, Olivia Colman, David Shrigley, Siri Hustvedt
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