When I lost a race for the United States Senate, I thought the world was going to end for me politically, and 18 years later I was elected President of the United States. The biggest disappointment was that I wasn't able to communicate properly to the American people — with the proper conviction and the proper ability — where the country really stood. The pessimists, the naysayers, the change-wanters overwhelmed me, and I wasn't good enough. I wasn't articulate enough to have the country understand that we weren't in a recession, that we were in a rather booming economy in the last half of my presidency. That was a personal shortcoming, a failure on my path.

Not getting proper dance lessons as a young person. I was a serious flamer.

My ears – disappointments that grow bigger each year.

Failing my driving test first time; that was a disappointment on a geological scale.

A critic once said she wanted to lift a carpet, put me under it and hold it down until I stopped moving.

That we will drown in plastic waste.

The Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana.

I once bought the most expensive moisturiser in the shop and it brought me out in spots. Lesson learned.

Earning a living as an actor for 40 years.

I didn't go to a retirement party once for someone who had been special to me and he died shortly after.