Barbara Walters: When were you happiest?

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.

Recorded Barbara Walters said elsewhere, not written here

In Paris and Italy, the summer after graduating from college.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2004 source ↗

Others on this question

Recently, as people began to understand what I am trying to do in my painting.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 June 2026 source ↗

Vince Cable British politician

My best times have been around my family.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2009 source ↗

Philip Treacy Irish-born haute couture milliner

As a child growing up in Ireland, on a beautiful day playing on what was known as a cock of hay (or haystack).

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 August 2014 source ↗

Patrisse Khan-Cullors American artist and activist

In elementary school. I loved learning.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 March 2018 source ↗

Christopher and Dana Reeve. Robert and Michelle Smithdas—teachers who are both deaf and blind. Oprah Winfrey.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2004 source ↗

A fireplace, a book, and a snowy day, with no possibility of getting into the office.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 1 October 2004 source ↗

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