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.
British summers give me a really happy feeling. My bedroom at our family home in Harrow looks out on to our garden and a cricket field, and you just know when it’s the first day of summer.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 May 2019 source ↗
Either pottering around on my own or performing, so I don’t know what kind of person that makes me.
I was a happy kid. I had quite a small life: I grew up in Walthamstow and didn’t really leave east London. I didn’t go to the South Bank for the first time until I was 18 years old.
I am happiest right now. Things are going really well – my professional life, my personal life, my family life.
When I was 15, I went to a rugby match at Twickenham with my dad and we went back to his friend Hugh’s house and Hugh made me a perfect cup of tea. I just remember feeling really happy because it was such a brilliant day and I loved being with my dad.
That all the cliches about people in the music industry are true.
I had heart surgery when I was 17. The other time was when I fell off my piano. My head was an inch away from a metal step.
Surviving the music industry. I think it’s been responsible for killing a lot of musicians. Lots of us have mental health issues, and drink and drug problems, and the industry doesn’t really care.
Everyone I ever met in 2007, because I was definitely about two hours late.
My mum, because she’s been a nurse for over 40 years. She works in a hospice, and there’s no bullshit with her.
Sheryl Crow, Julie Andrews, Vera Lynn, Mary J Blige, Chrissie Hynde, Michael Ball
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