Gregory Porter: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

The question

Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Gregory Porter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Barack Obama, for his humility and grace in the face of enormous difficulty.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 April 2025 source ↗

Mentioned in this answer

Person Barack Obama

Others on this question

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Big Narstie British entertainer

Ed Sheeran, a little ginger boy from the farmlands in Suffolk who ran away to London, slept on the streets and became the biggest musician in the world.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 January 2022 source ↗

Lorraine Pascale British model and cook

Oprah – she's achieved so much.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 January 2014 source ↗

Kevin Bacon

My wife – for her intelligence, talent, ability to survive this business and be such a fantastic mother to our two kids. (Of course, I have to say that, because she’s sitting right here.)

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 November 2018 source ↗

Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984

Just look at a Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa and Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela, and you’ll see that one of the outstanding characteristics of each one of these is how they have poured themselves out prodigally on behalf of others, of their being so utterly selfless.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗