Dawn O'Porter
British writer, director, and television presenter
A drunk woman who threw epic dinner parties.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Question
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Death & what remains
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
A cellist, inspired by my mum and dad’s friendship with Jacqueline du Pré, and seeing a documentary about her.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 October 2018 source ↗
Others on this question
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Martin Freeman
English actor
I wanted to be a footballer and then a squash player – I was in with a chance because I was very good. But I fell out of love with that by 14 or 15 and joined a youth theatre.
Rose McGowan
American actress and activist
A mortician – I worked in a funeral home when I was 14.
I wanted to be a doctor, like my father.
More from Emilia Fox
View profile →Dawn French, because I am sitting next to her and she says if I don’t say her, she will hurt me.
Listening to the last 10 minutes of the podcast S-Town. It is one of my favourite reminders of what life is truly all about.
I would like the poem Cherish by Raymond Carver. It was read by my dad at my wedding, and is my absolute favourite.
In my childhood, when I didn’t think about whether it was happy. It just was.
Any writer who thinks I’ve ruined their work in performance.
I’ve been to two postmortems in real life, and spent the last 14 years talking about death at work – so, pretty close.
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