The question
When were you most embarrassed?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.
Being misrepresented by a Sun journalist 12 years ago.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 December 2025 source ↗
I was doing The Seagull with Carey Mulligan and Kristin Scott Thomas on Broadway. I walked out on stage and looked at Carey and said: “I’ve no idea what to say.” It was pretty deep into the run and it took me by surprise.
At the Mighty Hoopla festival, Kimberley and Nicola from Girls Aloud joined me on stage for a Girls Aloud song. I completely forgot the words.
Fainting as a chorister in Winchester Cathedral in the middle of a service.
I was in Oliver! when I was 10 and I peed myself on stage in front of however many people the Palladium holds. It was the stuff of nightmares.
Nothing. Tony Benn, one of my favourite politicians, said, “I don’t care where you’ve been, I care where you’re going.”
Deputy leader Mothin Ali gave a speech at conference talking about growing up in poverty and the effect it had on his family. It was incredibly powerful and I had tears streaming from my eyes.
I wanted to be in the WWF – the wrestling one, not the wildlife one.
Doomscrolling on my phone.
Those who create the doom.
A dog bounding through the grass on a summer’s day chasing a squirrel.
Keir Starmer, Jon Snow, Clive Myrie, Kellie Maloney, Chris Bryant, Rory Stewart
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