I don’t think there’s a single moment. Every day that you wake up and your family is healthy and OK is a daily gratitude and happiness for me.
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.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 577 →The day of my civil partnership.
When I changed the toner cartridge in my printer all on my own – that was a day of pure euphoria.
When I lived with my grandmother in Trinidad, before I came to England to live with my mother in Newcastle at the age of seven.
More from Julian Lloyd Webber
View profile →Frightening, exhilarating and all-consuming.
Seeing Leyton Orient in the premiership.
I’m president of my neighbourhood association. At my first meeting there was a discussion about developments the association should oppose. I said: “Nothing could be as bad as that horrible new house next to the church.” “I designed that,” the chairman replied. I shut up.
When the surgeon told me I wouldn’t be able to play the cello again, in 2013. I have a herniated disc and it’s pressing on a nerve in my neck. I announced I was stopping playing in 2014. I absolutely did not want to stop.
Our beautiful cat was so ill that we were hours away from having her put down. Somehow, we’ve managed to nurse her back to full health again.
A detective, a train driver on the underground and Leyton Orient’s centre forward.
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