Skip to content

The question

What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

Originally asked

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

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Others on this question

View all 367 →
Fran Lebowitz American author and public speaker
The supreme court. Specifically the case Bush v Gore, which is where Sandra Day O’Connor – one person – decided the presidential election.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 June 2022 source ↗
My A-level results in 1998. I flunked my history A-level and lost my place at Cambridge. It broke my heart for years; now I’m really glad, because I pull out the whole “I went to a polytechnic” thing. But at the time for a teenager who was rather pleased with herself, it was absolutely devastating.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 March 2026 source ↗
Jeremy Kyle English radio and television presenter
My ears – disappointments that grow bigger each year.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 July 2010 source ↗

More from Paul Giamatti

View profile →

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Meera Syal, Stephen Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Emily Mortimer, Imelda Staunton, Ted Danson

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer