RA
Not being active in my own desires.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2017 source ↗
The question
What disappointment has stayed with you longest?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.
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Others on this question
View all 367 →Not keeping off the last 5lbs.
Ranulph Fiennes
English explorer
An angina attack 300 metres below the summit ridge of Everest in 2005, having spent 72 days getting that far.
Donna Tartt
American novelist and writer
I was very disappointed when I realised I was never going to be an Olympic gymnast, but that was a long time ago.
Judy Murray
Scottish tennis coach
That Scottish tennis has failed to capitalise on the successes of Jamie and Andy.
More from Roger Allam
View profile →Just remembered, really.
The third or fourth glass of wine.
Picking tiny bits of glass out of long grass for Haringey council, 45 years ago.
I was very proud of doing Falstaff, because it seemed to go well.
Reading aloud the last two pages of a book about Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell. It was about his relationship with his cat, and a letter to a friend whose dog had died. It’s about letting the unexpected happen to you, and how that can really be what life is about.
When I was a child, it was a bus driver or engine driver; then, when I was a teenager, I went to the theatre and wanted to be an actor.
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Also answered this
Tom Ellis, Pauline McLynn, Peter Capaldi, Julie Andrews, Samuel L Jackson, Eddie Marsan
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