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.
Right now. It's a beautiful thing to find yourself "the wrong side of 40" and more in love with life than ever. I never tell people this publicly as they wrongly assume the only valid creative state is that of the cliche of the tubercular, tortured artist coughing up blood in his garret.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2011 source ↗
Before I was born.
There was a moment in my early 20s when I’d finished Emmerdale and didn’t know what was next. I drove from LA to San Francisco listening to Tracy Chapman and it felt like one of those pure moments of uncomplicated joy.
Each time I gave birth.
Before I realised my parents, sister and I were all mortal.
Drinking green tea with my wife and listening to Eno’s ‘Music For Airports’.
My wife. She is the most beautiful person I know in every way and has an endless energy for other people that a vinegary old misanthrope like myself can only marvel at.
Jennifer Hudson, Jake Bugg, Gary Numan, Kim Wilde, Viv Albertine, Ronnie Wood
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