The question
If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’d swap out a few boyfriends.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 May 2026 source ↗
The years between 13 and 17, which I think are very formative, and the rather arid public school upbringing I had at Harrow.
I would tell myself to stop being such a worrier.
On BBC Breakfast, I accidentally said “fuck” on air. My microphone had been turned on when I wasn’t in the room. It went out across the telly and they had to apologise.
Not being able to have a baby for two and a half years. Lots of people say it made me a better person; I think it made me worse. You go to a very dark place with your friends because they are having kids, and you want to be happy for them but you’re not.
Anyone who can pick up a house spider with their bare hands.
Christmas elf at the Rainforest Cafe.
Doing a compulsory standup routine in my first week of drama school.
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Congratulating Dua Lipa on managing to release a single in such a tough industry, because I thought she was a struggling indie artist. I Googled her the next day and realised that she has 88 million followers.
A perfect cup of coffee – warm, bittersweet, anxiety-inducing and delicious.
Henry Marsh, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Adwoa Aboah, Emeli Sandé, Mark Gatiss
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