Andrew O’Hagan: When were you most embarrassed?

The question

Originally asked

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

A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.

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Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My first holy communion, where my trousers were too big for me and fell down, a circumstance which earned me both the instant contempt of the girls and the heightened interest of the priests. That’s just how it was in 1975.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Rita Wilson American actress, singer, and producer

I was doing a photoshoot right after an awards show and I was talking about someone whose makeup I really didn’t like. I said: “She’s gorgeous, I don’t understand how a makeup artist could encourage that?” And the makeup artist on the photoshoot said: “I did her makeup.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 April 2023 source ↗

Fay Ripley English actress, television presenter, cookbook author

See my greatest fear!

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 November 2022 source ↗

Corinne Bailey Rae

I remember being a teenager and writing this romantic short story in the style of the Brontës on a computer and I didn’t realise that the person whose computer it was could just print it out. A group of boys had a couple of pages and they were all reading it.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 September 2023 source ↗

Kate Humble

The very first day that I was filming Top Gear, for which I was so unqualified because I’d only ever driven a Fiat Uno. I got into a DB7 Vantage Volante outside the Aston Martin factory, put my foot on the accelerator and bunny-hopped across the gravel because I’d forgotten to take the handbrake off.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗