Julian Clary: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

The question

Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

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.

Julian Clary

English actor, comedian, novelist and presenter

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Dame Joan Collins. She insists on being happy whatever is going on and, despite being a Tory, is a very caring person.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 June 2022 source ↗

Mentioned in this answer

Person Joan Collins

Others on this question

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Bruno Tonioli Italian choreographer

Oprah Winfrey. Considering the cards she was dealt at birth, what she has achieved is quite something.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 April 2023 source ↗

Cyndi Lauper

Aside from my mom, my husband, and my mother-in-law, Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and RBG.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2020 source ↗

Sarah Hadland

Lemn Sissay. What happened to him and what he’s done with his life is extraordinary.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗

Chris Rock

Barack Obama—just the balls to think he could be president is gangster. People forget that, when he first announced he was running, most black people were for Hillary Clinton. The only person that was laughed at more for a crazy idea was Noah.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2016 source ↗