MF
When I am in Italy with the family, not thinking about work.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 January 2019 source ↗
The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?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.
Others on this question
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Björn Ulvaeus
Swedish musician
If it wasn’t for coronavirus, it would be right now. All my life I’ve felt a pressure to achieve. It’s gone now, and that gives me a sense of freedom. Whenever I, for short moments, forget about corona and climate change, I’m happy.
Jo Brand
English entertainer
I don’t tend to rank happy times.
Fran Lebowitz
American author and public speaker
The moment I realised I knew how to read. I was five.
I'm a happy guy in general, but the feeling of freedom and fun I got driving around with my friends in my first car is hard to top.
More from Martin Freeman
View profile →I say it a lot to my kids when I’ve lost my temper, and I’ll save up a big one for when they are 18.
It’s hard to beat David Attenborough. Everything he does is quality. I like people who make me proud to be British.
The Wimpy in Kingston when I was 16. I’d recently become vegetarian, and there weren’t many veggie burgers in 1988.
I love clothes and accoutrements, so it would be either a suit or a watch. I love Mark Powell in Soho, and Paul Smith.
“I don’t love you.”
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.
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