Monty Don
English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer
I once had to dig a fire escape from a basement in a health club. It took two weeks.
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's long-running Q&A repeatedly asks this standing question, with minor tense variation.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I spent an advent in my late teens throttling turkeys.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 235 →
Ronald Harwood
South African playwright and novelist
Unpacking scenery from a pantechnicon for the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
Adrian Dunbar
Irish actor
Working in an abattoir.
Zoe Ball
British TV and radio personality
The failed attempt at a home perm on myself in the 80s. I wanted to look like Kelly McGillis in Top Gun.
More from Frank Cottrell-Boyce
View profile →I took the whole family to live in the Basque Country for a year. My children and I have a hereditary blood condition so I took out a health insurance policy. I’m still furious that none of us so much as stubbed a toe.
My inability to say no.
The unguiltiest pleasure.
I once found myself chatting to a big handsome bloke at a party in Oslo. I said, “And what do you do?” “Well,” he said, “I am the king.” Being a great wordsmith, I zinged back, “Oh. Errm. Cool.”
That it’s impossible to persuade other people of the value of the lessons that life has taught you.
So many. All childcarers and most primary teachers.
More on craft & work
- What do you consider your greatest achievement? 202 answers
- How does a new work begin for you? 74 answers
- What do you do when you feel creatively blocked or stuck? 73 answers
- How do you know when a piece of work is finished? 70 answers
- How much rewriting or revision do you do? 52 answers
- What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job? 51 answers
Also answered this
Tom Ellis, Peter Capaldi, Michael Ball, Alison Steadman, Karamo Brown, Rory Kinnear
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All craft & work questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject