Vicky McClure
English actress
Paul Irons, the deputy head at my school, Fernwood comprehensive. He was an inspiration, and still is.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Failure & regret
Question
What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Craft & work
Question
Which book changed the way you think, and what did it change?
Taste & recommendation
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’ve become fonder and fonder of Brian Friel and Faith Healer has sort of become my favourite play.
Matthew Reisz, Books interview, The Guardian, 7 August 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
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Jeremy Deller
English artist
Either Stevie Wonder or Willie Nelson. Hopefully, no explanation required.
Elmore Leonard
Novelist and screenwriter
Peyton Manning.
Jim Kerr
Scottish singer and songwriter
A friend named Paul Hill [one of the Guildford Four] spent 15 years in prison doing time for crimes he did not commit. We communicate most days. I admire the hell out of him.
More from David Hare
View profile →I don't think you should do the serious stuff, you're not cut out for it.
I get to airports ridiculously early. It’s an uncontrollable urge.
Because I loved it when I was young.
I wrote a play called Knuckle in 1974, which opened to hostile reviews during the three-day week.
Never take advice from anyone with no investment in the outcome.
As an adolescent, I read Raymond Williams, George Orwell and Simone de Beauvoir – a crash course in human decency.
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