The greatest fear I can remember is coming back from WW II and being amazed that I was more afraid to audition for a job than I was flying 52 missions.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Death & what remains
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
That fear becomes too great.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 October 2008 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Basketball player and author
Years ago, before I had my current manager, I was taken advantage of by people I’d trusted with my finances. That’s made me especially sensitive to the prospect of financial ruin. I’m constantly advising young athletes to be vigilant when it comes to whom you trust with your finances.
Lily Tomlin
Comedian and actor
Being onstage and forgetting why I’m there.
Pauline McLynn
Irish character actress and author
Not being able to breathe – I get very panicky at the thought.
More from Joseph Fiennes
View profile →A single-malt whisky.
I haven't seen a ghost yet.
Aung San Suu Kyi: an extraordinary humanitarian fighting for democracy in a Burmese dictatorship.
Come back to me the night before I pop my clogs.
Jeff Buckley's rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.
Picking my nose.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 243 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 195 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 158 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 111 answers
- What are you most proud of? 103 answers
Also answered this
Neil Patrick Harris, Alison Steadman, Pauline McLynn, Romesh Ranganathan, Jack Whitehall, Cybill Shepherd
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- All identity & self questions
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