Frank Cottrell-Boyce: Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

The question

Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

Originally asked

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

The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this standing prompt, with minor contractions and word-order variation.

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

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

British screenwriter, novelist and actor

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

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.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 198 →

Charles Collingwood

My beautiful silver Jaguar XKR soft-top.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 March 2025 source ↗

Alex Lawther

My partner was doing a play in Hong Kong last year and I went to visit him, and I bought him a beautiful teacup. But I didn’t look at the price tag before I took it to the till and it was £100, the most expensive teacup imaginable.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗

Rory Stewart

A painting of a man who was killed on the Dutch coast in 1600.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2026 source ↗

Munroe Bergdorf

Gender-affirming surgery. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not widely available on the NHS and a lot of it you have to pay for yourself.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 July 2025 source ↗