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.
When I was young and carefree, before I realised what the obstacles were that we face as black people. I was raised in a beautiful home with incredible parents. They allowed me to enjoy what it was to be a child.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 December 2020 source ↗
The first time Emilie and I kissed.
The Olympics: all my dreams came true in one place.
When my album went to No 1.
When I lived with my grandmother in Trinidad, before I came to England to live with my mother in Newcastle at the age of seven.
To my father, for the time that was lost when we weren’t getting along. We were able to reconcile a few months before he passed away five years ago.
Creating. When everyone goes to bed and then you have six or seven hours to create peacefully. I’ve become nocturnal. Even on a night when I am not in the studio, I still won’t go to sleep till six in the morning.
To be in a position to empower my entire family with generational wealth.
I always wanted to be a rapper.
I bought myself a diamond pinky ring for two million dollars.
Matthew Bourne, Tom Ellis, Pauline McLynn, Arlene Phillips, Terry O'Neill, Vera Lynn
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